C# Sort JSON string keys

Question

I'd like to convert the JSON string

"{ \"birthday\": \"1988-03-18\", \"address\": { \"state\": 24, \"city\": 8341, \"country\": 1 } }"

to

"{ \"address\": { \"city\": 8341, \"country\": 1, \"state\": 24 }, \"birthday\": \"1988-03-18\" }"

NOTE: I'm not using the sorted version for communication (because the key order doesn't really matter), I need a sorted version to perform local tests (by comparing JSON strings).

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EDIT: I4V pointed a solution that uses Json.Net, I would rather use a solution that doesn't need to include any 3rd party library (actually I'm using the built in System.Json in my application)

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I posted a gist with the solution provided by I4V + some testing here. Thank you all.

Answer 1

I will use Json.Net for this

string json = @"{ ""birthday"": ""1988-03-18"", ""address"": { ""state"": 24, ""city"": 8341, ""country"": 1 } }";
var jObj = (JObject)JsonConvert.DeserializeObject(json);
Sort(jObj);
string newJson = jObj.ToString();

---

void Sort(JObject jObj)
{
    var props = jObj.Properties().ToList();
    foreach (var prop in props)
    {
        prop.Remove();
    }

    foreach (var prop in props.OrderBy(p=>p.Name))
    {
        jObj.Add(prop);
        if(prop.Value is JObject)
            Sort((JObject)prop.Value);
    }
}

EDIT

A try with System.Json but I am not sure about OrderByDescending ( or OrderBy).

var jObj = (System.Json.JsonObject)System.Json.JsonObject.Parse(json);
Sort2(jObj);
var newJson = jObj.ToString();

---

void Sort2(System.Json.JsonObject jObj)
{
    var props = jObj.ToList();
    foreach (var prop in props)
    {
        jObj.Remove(prop.Key);
    }

    foreach (var prop in props.OrderByDescending(p => p.Key))
    {
        jObj.Add(prop);
        if (prop.Value is System.Json.JsonObject)
            Sort2((System.Json.JsonObject)prop.Value);
    }
}

Answer 2

I know this may be a little late but, in case of you need to sort the internal arrays of data too (I just needed it):

static void Sort(JObject jObj)
{
    var props = jObj.Properties().ToList();
    foreach (var prop in props)
    {
        prop.Remove();
    }

    foreach (var prop in props.OrderBy(p => p.Name))
    {
        jObj.Add(prop);
        if (prop.Value is JObject)
            Sort((JObject)prop.Value);
        if (prop.Value is JArray)
        {
            Int32 iCount = prop.Value.Count();
            for (Int32 iIterator = 0; iIterator < iCount; iIterator++)
                if (prop.Value[iIterator] is JObject)
                    Sort((JObject)prop.Value[iIterator]);
        }
    }
}

Cheers!