Read JSON Array Using Json.NET JsonTextReader In C#

Hello,

Here's how to read or parse JSON array using Json.NET JsonTextReader class in C#.Given the sample JSON data below, you might wanna parse the information provided and retrieve the name property of a JSON Array StartObject and add it to a list box control.

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[ { "_id": "56c762b9d508f4622b732a4b", "index": 0, "guid": "72e418b1-c54b-4695-9f43-add4b2455bf2", "isActive": false, "balance": "$1,998.49", "picture": "http://placehold.it/32x32", "age": 32, "eyeColor": "green", "name": "Jodie Larson", "gender": "female", "company": "MENBRAIN", "email": "jodielarson@menbrain.com", "phone": "+1 (957) 432-3322", "address": "138 Bainbridge Street, Singer, North Dakota, 455", "about": "Quis sint tempor ut nostrud cupidatat proident duis cupidatat sit in commodo. Ipsum minim magna qui eiusmod qui duis. Do commodo eiusmod consectetur magna. Ea do eu cillum nostrud in consequat do nulla minim nisi quis esse tempor. Voluptate laborum fugiat incididunt adipisicing. Culpa laboris cillum proident irure ea esse nostrud laborum tempor exercitation nisi do et sit.\r\n", "registered": "2014-10-13T08:18:08 -08:00", "latitude": -74.060005, "longitude": 105.314647, "tags": [ "ad", "laborum", "ad", "sint", "tempor", "sit", "irure" ], "friends": [ { "id": 0, "name": "Barton Reynolds" }, { "id": 1, "name": "Potter Hess" }, { "id": 2, "name": "Keisha Benton" } ], "greeting": "Hello, Jodie Larson! You have 7 unread messages.", "favoriteFruit": "apple" }, { "_id": "56c762b916285e8fd29eb44c", "index": 1, "guid": "02e7eb08-784f-43b4-bd1d-f850ebc1426a", "isActive": false, "balance": "$3,944.92", "picture": "http://placehold.it/32x32", "age": 37, "eyeColor": "brown", "name": "Gay Vega", "gender": "male", "company": "EBIDCO", "email": "gayvega@ebidco.com", "phone": "+1 (889) 480-3836", "address": "769 Rewe Street, Loomis, District Of Columbia, 1897", "about": "Aute commodo exercitation sint amet consectetur est fugiat ipsum. Aliquip laboris incididunt veniam aliquip enim tempor sint deserunt nulla. Anim qui ex laborum est aliquip. Anim dolor nostrud officia voluptate reprehenderit nostrud pariatur incididunt adipisicing mollit aliqua aute sunt. Deserunt reprehenderit eiusmod nisi aliqua in consequat est id sunt sit amet. Do magna culpa laboris reprehenderit adipisicing. Irure consectetur sunt duis tempor aute nostrud aute amet veniam veniam dolore in Lorem ipsum.\r\n", "registered": "2014-06-11T10:18:40 -08:00", "latitude": 70.157205, "longitude": -121.311015, "tags": [ "laboris", "quis", "nulla", "cupidatat", "ea", "anim", "adipisicing" ], "friends": [ { "id": 0, "name": "Craig Barrett" }, { "id": 1, "name": "Blackburn Callahan" }, { "id": 2, "name": "Harmon Herring" } ], "greeting": "Hello, Gay Vega! You have 10 unread messages.", "favoriteFruit": "apple" }, { "_id": "56c762b913e08057a4385445", "index": 2, "guid": "2c6cd943-c7b9-4ce2-8e05-90c97f12fbca", "isActive": false, "balance": "$2,246.38", "picture": "http://placehold.it/32x32", "age": 30, "eyeColor": "brown", "name": "Joseph Snow", "gender": "male", "company": "XSPORTS", "email": "josephsnow@xsports.com", "phone": "+1 (900) 488-3291", "address": "303 Fillmore Avenue, Gardiner, North Carolina, 2107", "about": "Nulla ad aute mollit culpa excepteur consectetur eiusmod. Lorem et voluptate exercitation nulla occaecat deserunt ipsum ex officia Lorem id elit commodo. Commodo nulla minim minim mollit aliqua ex ex anim sint ex pariatur sunt. Aute non sint elit ullamco labore. Velit aliqua nulla qui dolor veniam est. Velit Lorem adipisicing sunt aliquip pariatur eu commodo. Esse duis proident non magna labore cillum reprehenderit velit velit laboris aliqua commodo.\r\n", "registered": "2014-07-04T12:06:36 -08:00", "latitude": 25.464785, "longitude": 174.230961, "tags": [ "ut", "qui", "esse", "aute", "esse", "enim", "nisi" ], "friends": [ { "id": 0, "name": "Mills Delaney" }, { "id": 1, "name": "Caroline Bonner" }, { "id": 2, "name": "Sarah Wilder" } ], "greeting": "Hello, Joseph Snow! You have 1 unread messages.", "favoriteFruit": "strawberry" }, { "_id": "56c762b912271dea945f2e74", "index": 3, "guid": "05d5b0c0-1202-4208-8590-519057212999", "isActive": false, "balance": "$2,740.09", "picture": "http://placehold.it/32x32", "age": 21, "eyeColor": "blue", "name": "Brenda Nash", "gender": "female", "company": "COMSTRUCT", "email": "brendanash@comstruct.com", "phone": "+1 (999) 579-2688", "address": "945 Adler Place, Hiseville, Massachusetts, 3011", "about": "Exercitation laboris tempor Lorem exercitation occaecat id aliquip sit duis. Exercitation magna mollit est exercitation mollit excepteur ullamco. Ipsum Lorem magna occaecat esse. Laborum cupidatat ipsum labore Lorem sunt magna ex exercitation est duis ullamco mollit minim pariatur. Sit occaecat in laborum est mollit in aute proident ex officia adipisicing. Eu cupidatat veniam non do.\r\n", "registered": "2016-02-17T01:38:18 -08:00", "latitude": -4.068155, "longitude": -38.59591, "tags": [ "occaecat", "non", "excepteur", "nisi", "nulla", "laboris", "consectetur" ], "friends": [ { "id": 0, "name": "Hogan Wyatt" }, { "id": 1, "name": "Gale Finch" }, { "id": 2, "name": "Estela Dale" } ], "greeting": "Hello, Brenda Nash! You have 8 unread messages.", "favoriteFruit": "strawberry" }, { "_id": "56c762b90e4c1f80956b1c25", "index": 4, "guid": "5edebad7-fdc7-42da-8704-2ac93afffb2a", "isActive": true, "balance": "$3,311.82", "picture": "http://placehold.it/32x32", "age": 31, "eyeColor": "blue", "name": "Herring Cooper", "gender": "male", "company": "PYRAMIS", "email": "herringcooper@pyramis.com", "phone": "+1 (830) 571-3393", "address": "131 Vanderbilt Street, Iola, Wisconsin, 5269", "about": "Labore officia eiusmod occaecat aliquip proident laboris enim enim reprehenderit sint cupidatat ex consequat deserunt. Sint proident laborum labore ex et nulla non eiusmod incididunt voluptate fugiat incididunt sint. Adipisicing nisi consequat incididunt nulla laborum fugiat do in excepteur aliqua. Labore minim eiusmod dolor duis. Ad elit eiusmod ex sit qui ad velit. Tempor elit mollit magna labore nisi quis deserunt cupidatat fugiat cupidatat.\r\n", "registered": "2014-10-15T12:04:06 -08:00", "latitude": 59.087757, "longitude": -85.817126, "tags": [ "id", "magna", "velit", "minim", "proident", "incididunt", "qui" ], "friends": [ { "id": 0, "name": "Marilyn Schroeder" }, { "id": 1, "name": "Bobbie Osborne" }, { "id": 2, "name": "Eunice Ortega" } ], "greeting": "Hello, Herring Cooper! You have 2 unread messages.", "favoriteFruit": "strawberry" }, { "_id": "56c762b9fd970fe73b8e9208", "index": 5, "guid": "42d19967-5daf-4fa4-97aa-140fd95be7dd", "isActive": false, "balance": "$2,400.40", "picture": "http://placehold.it/32x32", "age": 26, "eyeColor": "green", "name": "Kirby Barker", "gender": "male", "company": "BISBA", "email": "kirbybarker@bisba.com", "phone": "+1 (958) 568-3754", "address": "467 Argyle Road, Matthews, Delaware, 114", "about": "Ullamco labore ea anim quis nisi ut reprehenderit aliquip. Aute excepteur pariatur qui voluptate esse pariatur. Adipisicing cupidatat ipsum ea id amet exercitation labore veniam. Ex magna aliquip nostrud eiusmod proident incididunt tempor quis officia et cillum qui esse. Velit non dolor esse proident. Qui sunt magna elit Lorem proident esse dolor duis. Est nostrud qui incididunt occaecat laborum et ad eu esse sint.\r\n", "registered": "2014-12-21T04:48:16 -08:00", "latitude": 37.53505, "longitude": -132.579884, "tags": [ "deserunt", "sint", "ipsum", "exercitation", "commodo", "ut", "consectetur" ], "friends": [ { "id": 0, "name": "Kelley Hensley" }, { "id": 1, "name": "Long Gentry" }, { "id": 2, "name": "Mari Mcneil" } ], "greeting": "Hello, Kirby Barker! You have 7 unread messages.", "favoriteFruit": "strawberry" }, { "_id": "56c762b91b039520117ffe1c", "index": 6, "guid": "1388e4e0-d6d9-40d5-80b7-d582f5a8765c", "isActive": true, "balance": "$3,883.07", "picture": "http://placehold.it/32x32", "age": 22, "eyeColor": "blue", "name": "Calderon Wolf", "gender": "male", "company": "IDEGO", "email": "calderonwolf@idego.com", "phone": "+1 (824) 596-2676", "address": "420 Huron Street, Farmers, Oklahoma, 9496", "about": "Ullamco non occaecat Lorem quis sunt officia pariatur exercitation. Tempor sit occaecat est mollit proident officia nostrud dolore qui veniam dolore occaecat magna. Incididunt non officia consectetur cupidatat eu ad amet nulla. Labore id ad aliqua reprehenderit culpa deserunt enim. Occaecat laboris pariatur est laboris nisi amet anim.\r\n", "registered": "2015-08-16T04:40:28 -08:00", "latitude": 64.331478, "longitude": -1.070689, "tags": [ "dolor", "ad", "commodo", "eiusmod", "id", "dolor", "ea" ], "friends": [ { "id": 0, "name": "Hallie Sexton" }, { "id": 1, "name": "Maryellen Roberts" }, { "id": 2, "name": "Palmer Beard" } ], "greeting": "Hello, Calderon Wolf! You have 5 unread messages.", "favoriteFruit": "apple" } ]

In order to achieve the desired output similar to this screenshot.


A solution is to parse the JSON data using the JsonTextReader class.

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void SolutionJsonTextReader() { int count = 0; WebClient itemListDataWC = new WebClient(); var responseData = itemListDataWC.DownloadString("datasample.json"); JsonTextReader reader = new JsonTextReader(new StringReader(responseData)); while (reader.Read()) { if (reader.TokenType == JsonToken.StartObject) { JObject obj = JObject.Load(reader); lstName.Items.Add(obj["name"]); //load names to listbox } else { continue; } } }

The preceding code, assigns the responseData object to a StringReader constructor and then assigned in the JsonTextReader constructor class. Inside the loop statement, the code checks if the reader is of type StartObject. If true, load the reader to a JSON object. In turn, we can obtain the name property of that object.