ServiceStack.Text DynamicJson fails to parse an array

Question

Running the following code:

var s = @"{ ""simple"": ""value"", ""obj"": { ""val"":""test"" }, ""array"": []";
var dyn = DynamicJson.Deserialize(s);
Console.WriteLine(dyn.simple);
Console.WriteLine(dyn.obj);
Console.WriteLine(dyn.obj.val);
Console.WriteLine(dyn.array);

Prints:

"value"
{"val":"test"}
base {System.Dynamic.DynamicObject}: {"val":"test"}
"test"
"[]"

Which means dyn.obj returns an object so I can continue to navigate through it but dyn.array returns a string. Meaning I cannot iterate through the list of objects inside.

What am I missing?

EDIT

I think I have found the issue. Looking in github in Pcl.Dynamic.cs method YieldMember does the following:

private bool YieldMember(string name, out object result)
{
    if (_hash.ContainsKey(name))
    {
        var json = _hash[name].ToString();
        if (json.TrimStart(' ').StartsWith("{", StringComparison.Ordinal))
        {
            result = Deserialize(json);
            return true;
        }
        result = json;
        return _hash[name] == result;
    }
    result = null;
    return false;
}

It takes care of converting values starting with { into a deserialized (dynamic) object.

I know @mythz looks at questions in StackOverflow so maybe he can chime in with his thoughts. Seems pretty simple to handle when the json starts with [ right?

EDIT 2

I'm considering this a bug. So I've made the fix in the code and submitted a pull request. In case anyone is curious:

https://github.com/ServiceStack/ServiceStack.Text/pull/442

did you try putting anything *in* the array to see how that deserializes? if it's empty, it has no clue what type it's intended to hold. — DLeh, Apr 01 '15 at 20:07
you can also create your own class that represents the same format the json holds, then deserialize to that type. thats much better than working with `dynamic`s. — DLeh, Apr 01 '15 at 20:09
@DLeh I could but that's not the case. I specifically want to have it parsed into a dynamic object... I've used the alternatives and I know they work. I have put data inside the array and the result is the same. — Alex, Apr 01 '15 at 20:22
okay. well then you will need to be prepared that it might not always parse as the type you want it to be. #dynamic — DLeh, Apr 01 '15 at 20:23

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered Apr 02 '15 at 02:14

2

It was indeed a bug which has been accepted into ServiceStack.Text's source code.

https://github.com/ServiceStack/ServiceStack.Text/commit/7cd06d3e90bcbfd244af525ed7f584bd4badc31e

answered Apr 02 '15 at 02:14

Alex

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ServiceStack.Text DynamicJson fails to parse an array

1 Answers1