How to avoid the ROOT Element when parsing from XML to JSON in C#

Question

I am trying to create a JSON from an xml using JSON.NET

XmlDocument docPerson = new XmlDocument();
docPerson.LoadXml(xmlPerson); //xmlPerson is the xml from above
JObject personDefinition = JObject.Parse(JsonConvert.SerializeObject(docPerson));
Tasks.personDefinition = personDefinition["personDefinition"];

OUTPUT JSON

"person":{"person":[{"personId":"1","firstName":"Name1","lastName":"lastName1"},                  {"personId":"3","firstName":"Name2","lastName":"lastName2"}]}

I don't need the outer person and just need the following json

REQUIRED JSON

"person":[{"personId":"1","firstName":"1","lastName":"Weight"},{"personId":"3","firstName":"4","lastName":"Pulse Ox"}]}

I have tried using the .first method however it is throwing an error. Can anyone suggest on how to strip the root from the output json

Answer 1

JSON.Net has a SerializeXmlNode() method that can do exactly what you want. Simply pass true to the omitRootObject parameter. Observe:

string xmlPerson = @"<PersonDefinition><Person><name>Nicolas</name><age>22</age></Person><Person><name>Pankaj</name><age>25</age></Person></PersonDefinition>";
XmlDocument docPerson = new XmlDocument();
docPerson.LoadXml(xmlPerson);
string json = JsonConvert.SerializeXmlNode(docPerson, Formatting.None, true);
Console.WriteLine(json);

Output:

{"Person":[{"name":"Nicolas","age":"22"},{"name":"Pankaj","age":"25"}]}