A Deserializer/Serializer from JSON to C# classes.
To use grab the DLL here and drop it in your Unity3D project (or other .net project)
using DeJson;
class Bar {
public Bar() {}
public Bar(int _z, int _a) { z = _z; a = _a; }
public int z;
public int a;
}
class Foo {
public Foo() {}
public Foo(int _x, int _y, Bar[] _g, int[][] _b) { x = _x; y = _y; g = _g; b = _b; }
public int x;
public int y;
public Bar[] g;
public int[][] b;
}
void Test() {
// Serialize/Deserialize a complex structure
{
var orig = new Foo(
123,
456,
new[]{new Bar(5, 12), new Bar(4, 23), new Bar(3, 34)},
new[]{new[]{1, 2}, new[]{4, 5, 6}, new[]{7, 6}}
);
string json = Serialize.From(orig);
var copy = Deserialize.To<Foo>(json);
}
// Array
{
int[] orig = {4, 7, 9};
string json = Serialize.From(orig);
int[] copy = Deserialize.To<int[]>(json);
}
// List
{
List<int> orig = new List(){4, 7, 9};
string json = Serialize.From(orig);
List<int> copy = Deserialize.To<List<int>>(json);
}
// Dictonary
{
Dictionary<string, Bar> orig = new Dictionary<string, bar>();
orig["abc"] = new Bar(12, 34);
orig["def"] = new Bar(56, 78);
string json = Serialize.From(orig);
Dictionary<string, Bar> copy = Deserialize.To<Dictionary<string, Bar>>(json);
}
}
enum CarType {
Ford,
Chevy,
Toyota,
};
class Car {
public Car() {
}
public Car(CarType _type) {
type = _type;
}
public CarType type = CarType.Ford;
};
[Test()]
public void EnumTest()
{
Car a = new Car(CarType.Chevy);
string json = Serializer.Serialize(a);
Deserializer deserializer = new Deserializer();
Car b = deserializer.Deserialize<Car>(json);
string expected = "{\"type\":\"Chevy\"}";
Assert.AreEqual(json, expected);
Assert.AreEqual(a.type, b.type);
}
If you have some dervied type then you need to provide a CustomCreator to tell the Deserializer how to decide which derived type to create. Example
public class Fruit {
public int fruitType; // 0 = Apple, 1 = Raspberry
};
public class Apple : Fruit {
public float height;
public float radius;
};
public class Raspberry : Fruit {
public int numBulbs;
}
public class FruitCreator : Deserializer.CustomCreator {
// Called when the Deserializer realizes it needs a Fruit (abstract)
// so you get a chance to create a concrete instance of a Fruit (Apple, Raspberry)
public override object Create(Dictionary<string, object> src, Dictionary<string, object> parentSrc) {
// read the fruitType field
int fruitType = Convert.ToInt32(src["fruitType"]);
if (fruitType == 0) {
return new Apple();
} else if (fruitType == 1) {
return new Raspberry();
}
return null;
}
// Tell the Deserializer the base type we create.
public override System.Type TypeToCreate() {
return typeof(Fruit);
}
}
...
void Test() {
Deserializer deserializer = new Deserializer();
deserializer.RegisterCreator(new FruitCreator());
string appleJson = "{\"fruitType\":0,\"height\":1.2,\"radius\":7}";
string raspberryJson = "{\"fruitType\":1,\"numBulbs\":27}";
Fruit apple = deserializer.Deserialize<Fruit>(appleJson);
Fruit raspberry = deserializer.Deserialize<Fruit>(raspberryJson);
Console.WriteLine("apple.fruitType: " + apple.fruitType);
Console.WriteLine("apple.height: " + ((Apple)apple).height);
Console.WriteLine("apple.radius: " + ((Apple)apple).radius);
Console.WriteLine("raspberry.fruitType: " + raspberry.fruitType);
Console.WriteLine("raspberry.height: " + ((Raspberry)raspberry).numBulbs);
}
If the data to determine the type is in the containing class you can use parentSrc to
inspect the parent's field in your creator. Example
public class Message {
public string msgType;
public MessageData data;
}
public class MessageData {
}
public class MessageDataMouseMove : MessageData {
public int x;
public int y;
}
public class MessageDataKeyDown : MessageData {
public int keyCode;
}
public class MessageDataCreator : Deserializer.CustomCreator {
// Called when the Deserializer realizes it needs a
// MessageData (abstract) so you get a chance to create
// a concrete instance of a MessageData (MessageDataMouseMove,
// MessageDataKeyDown)
public override object Create(Dictionary<string, object> src,
Dictionary<string, object> parentSrc) {
// read the msgType from Message
// parentSrc is the fields from Message
// src is the field from MessageData
string msgType = Convert.ToString(parentSrc["msgType"]);
if (msgType.Equals("mouseMove")) {
return new MessageDataMouseMove();
} else if (msgType.Equals("keyDown")) {
return new MessageDataKeyDown();
}
return null;
}
// Tell the Deserializer the base type we create.
public override System.Type TypeToCreate() {
return typeof(MessageData);
}
}
...
void Test() {
Deserializer deserializer = new Deserializer();
deserializer.RegisterCreator(new MessageDataCreator());
string mouseMoveJson = "{\"msgType\":\"mouseMove\",\"data\":{\"x\":123,\"y\":456}}";
string keyDownJson = "{\"msgType\":\"keyDown\",\"data\":{\"keyCode\":789}}";
Message msg1 = deserializer.Deserialize<Message>(mouseMoveJson);
Message msg2 = deserializer.Deserialize<Message>(keyDownJson);
Console.WriteLine("msg1.msgType : " + msg1.msgType );
Console.WriteLine("((MessageDataMouseMove)msg1.data).x : " + ((MessageDataMouseMove)msg1.data).x );
Console.WriteLine("((MessageDataMouseMove)msg1.data).y : " + ((MessageDataMouseMove)msg1.data).y );
Console.WriteLine("msg2.msgType : " + msg2.msgType );
Console.WriteLine("((MessageDataKeyDown)msg2.data).keyCode : " + ((MessageDataKeyDown)msg2.data).keyCode);
}
If you're just serializing in and out of .NET (in other words you're not going to real JavaScript) then you can choose to have dervied types save their type info when serializing and use that info when deserializing. Example
public class Animal {
}
public class Dog : Animal {
public Dog() { } // must have no param ctor for deseralization
public Dog(int _barkiness) {
barkiness = _barkiness;
}
public int barkiness;
}
public class Cat : Animal {
public Cat() { } // must have no param ctor for deseralization
public Cat(int _stealthiness) {
stealthiness = _stealthiness;
}
public int stealthiness;
}
...
void Test() {
Deserializer deserializer = new Deserializer();
Dog da = new Dog(123);
Cat ca = new Cat(456);
Animal[] animals = new Animal[2];
animals[0] = da;
animals[1] = ca;
// Passing in true to Serialize tells it to serialize type data for
// derived types.
string animalsJson = Serializer.Serialize(animals, true);
Animal[] ani = deserializer.Deserialize<Animal[]>(animalsJson);
Console.WriteLine("--[ auto type serialization example ]------------------------");
Console.WriteLine("serialized as: " + animalsJson);
Console.WriteLine("((Dog)ani[0]).barkiness : " + ((Dog)ani[0]).barkiness );
Console.WriteLine("((Cat)ani[1]).stealthiness: " + ((Cat)ani[1]).stealthiness);
}
I'm a C# noob but it seems to work for the cases I've thrown at it so far.
This was written for consuming JSON provided by JavaScript in a browser
Classes must have a no parameter constructor and all fields must be public. Consider these classes just for passing info through JSON.
Generic List, Dictionary are supported.
Array of Arrays are supported. But, being based on JavaScript multi-dimensional arrays are not.
public class Foo {
public int[][] arrayOfArrayOfValues; // ok
public int[,] multiDimensionalArray; // BAD!
};
I tried to use JSON.NET but I needed it for Unity3D. Unity3D is apparently using .NET 2.0. JSON.NET supports .NET 2.0 but I couldn't get it to work. In particular I couldn't get it to handle the 2 advanced cases above. In JSON.NET you can apparently handle the first case where the field that determines the type is in the class being deserialized but unfortunately to do that it uses some advanced features of Linq that didn't seem to work in Unity3D.
Of course maybe I just don't know what I'm doing and it would have worked and I could have saved a bunch of time but I couldn't get it to work and this didn't take too long to write.
It's the MIT license. See top of DeJson.cs