How to access elements of a JArray (or iterate over them)

Question

I have the following Json gotten from Twitter

     +      token   {[
  {
    "trends": [
      {
        "name": "Croke Park II",
        "url": "http://twitter.com/search?q=%22Croke+Park+II%22",
        "promoted_content": null,
        "query": "%22Croke+Park+II%22",
        "events": null
      },
      {
        "name": "#twiznight",
        "url": "http://twitter.com/search?q=%23twiznight",
        "promoted_content": null,
        "query": "%23twiznight",
        "events": null
      },
      {
        "name": "#Phanhattan",
        "url": "http://twitter.com/search?q=%23Phanhattan",
        "promoted_content": null,
        "query": "%23Phanhattan",
        "events": null
      },
      {
        "name": "#VinB",
        "url": "http://twitter.com/search?q=%23VinB",
        "promoted_content": null,
        "query": "%23VinB",
        "events": null
      },
      {
        "name": "#Boston",
        "url": "http://twitter.com/search?q=%23Boston",
        "promoted_content": null,
        "query": "%23Boston",
        "events": null
      },
      {
        "name": "#rtept",
        "url": "http://twitter.com/search?q=%23rtept",
        "promoted_content": null,
        "query": "%23rtept",
        "events": null
      },
      {
        "name": "Facebook",
        "url": "http://twitter.com/search?q=Facebook",
        "promoted_content": null,
        "query": "Facebook",
        "events": null
      },
      {
        "name": "Ireland",
        "url": "http://twitter.com/search?q=Ireland",
        "promoted_content": null,
        "query": "Ireland",
        "events": null
      },
      {
        "name": "Everton",
        "url": "http://twitter.com/search?q=Everton",
        "promoted_content": null,
        "query": "Everton",
        "events": null
      },
      {
        "name": "Twitter",
        "url": "http://twitter.com/search?q=Twitter",
        "promoted_content": null,
        "query": "Twitter",
        "events": null
      }
    ],
    "as_of": "2013-04-17T13:05:30Z",
    "created_at": "2013-04-17T12:51:41Z",
    "locations": [
      {
        "name": "Dublin",
        "woeid": 560743
      }
    ]
  }
]}  Newtonsoft.Json.Linq.JToken {Newtonsoft.Json.Linq.JArray}

Problem is I can't seem to access any of the elements. I have tried foreach loops and normal for loops and can never seem to access individual elemets it always ends up accessing the whole area.

Any idea how I access the individual elements in this Json JArray?

Answer 1

There is a much simpler solution for that.
Just treat the items of the JArray as JObject.

Let's say we have such array of JSON objects:

JArray jArray = JArray.Parse(@"[
              {
                ""name"": ""Croke Park II"",
                ""url"": ""http://twitter.com/search?q=%22Croke+Park+II%22"",
                ""promoted_content"": null,
                ""query"": ""%22Croke+Park+II%22"",
                ""events"": null
              },
              {
                ""name"": ""Siptu"",
                ""url"": ""http://twitter.com/search?q=Siptu"",
                ""promoted_content"": null,
                ""query"": ""Siptu"",
                ""events"": null
              }]");

To get access each item just do the following:

foreach (JObject item in jArray) // <-- Note that here we used JObject instead of usual JProperty
{
    string name = item.GetValue("name").ToString();
    string url = item.GetValue("url").ToString();
    // ...
}

Answer 2

Update - I verified the below works. Maybe the creation of your JArray isn't quite right.

[TestMethod]
    public void TestJson()
    {
        var jsonString = @"{""trends"": [
              {
                ""name"": ""Croke Park II"",
                ""url"": ""http://twitter.com/search?q=%22Croke+Park+II%22"",
                ""promoted_content"": null,
                ""query"": ""%22Croke+Park+II%22"",
                ""events"": null
              },
              {
                ""name"": ""Siptu"",
                ""url"": ""http://twitter.com/search?q=Siptu"",
                ""promoted_content"": null,
                ""query"": ""Siptu"",
                ""events"": null
              },
              {
                ""name"": ""#HNCJ"",
                ""url"": ""http://twitter.com/search?q=%23HNCJ"",
                ""promoted_content"": null,
                ""query"": ""%23HNCJ"",
                ""events"": null
              },
              {
                ""name"": ""Boston"",
                ""url"": ""http://twitter.com/search?q=Boston"",
                ""promoted_content"": null,
                ""query"": ""Boston"",
                ""events"": null
              },
              {
                ""name"": ""#prayforboston"",
                ""url"": ""http://twitter.com/search?q=%23prayforboston"",
                ""promoted_content"": null,
                ""query"": ""%23prayforboston"",
                ""events"": null
              },
              {
                ""name"": ""#TheMrsCarterShow"",
                ""url"": ""http://twitter.com/search?q=%23TheMrsCarterShow"",
                ""promoted_content"": null,
                ""query"": ""%23TheMrsCarterShow"",
                ""events"": null
              },
              {
                ""name"": ""#Raw"",
                ""url"": ""http://twitter.com/search?q=%23Raw"",
                ""promoted_content"": null,
                ""query"": ""%23Raw"",
                ""events"": null
              },
              {
                ""name"": ""Iran"",
                ""url"": ""http://twitter.com/search?q=Iran"",
                ""promoted_content"": null,
                ""query"": ""Iran"",
                ""events"": null
              },
              {
                ""name"": ""#gaa"",
                ""url"": ""http://twitter.com/search?q=%23gaa"",
                ""promoted_content"": null,
                ""query"": ""gaa"",
                ""events"": null
              },
              {
                ""name"": ""Facebook"",
                ""url"": ""http://twitter.com/search?q=Facebook"",
                ""promoted_content"": null,
                ""query"": ""Facebook"",
                ""events"": null
              }]}";

        var twitterObject = JToken.Parse(jsonString);
        var trendsArray = twitterObject.Children<JProperty>().FirstOrDefault(x => x.Name == "trends").Value;


        foreach (var item in trendsArray.Children())
        {
            var itemProperties = item.Children<JProperty>();
            //you could do a foreach or a linq here depending on what you need to do exactly with the value
            var myElement = itemProperties.FirstOrDefault(x => x.Name == "url");
            var myElementValue = myElement.Value; ////This is a JValue type
        }
    }

So call Children on your JArray to get each JObject in JArray. Call Children on each JObject to access the objects properties.

foreach(var item in yourJArray.Children())
{
    var itemProperties = item.Children<JProperty>();
    //you could do a foreach or a linq here depending on what you need to do exactly with the value
    var myElement = itemProperties.FirstOrDefault(x => x.Name == "url");
    var myElementValue = myElement.Value; ////This is a JValue type
}

Answer 3

Once you have a JArray you can treat it just like any other Enumerable object, and using linq you can access them, check them, verify them, and select them.

var str = @"[1, 2, 3]";
var jArray = JArray.Parse(str);
Console.WriteLine(String.Join("-", jArray.Where(i => (int)i > 1).Select(i => i.ToString())));