Combining 2 JSON sources from different URLs

Question

I have two JSON files from two different URLs:

url1:

    {"2013" : [
        { "date":"2/5/2013 11:13 AM","height":3 }],
    "2012" : [
        { "date":"28/9/2012 3:34 PM","height":4 }]
    }

url2:

    {"2013" : [
        { "date":"2013-01-09 12:00:00","height":0 },
        { "date":"2013-01-29 12:00:00","height":2 }],
    "2012" : [
        { "date":"2012-02-09 12:00:00","height":0 },
        { "date":"2012-02-29 12:00:00","height":2 }],
    "2011" : [
        { "date":"2011-03-09 12:00:00","height":3 },
        { "date":"2011-03-29 12:00:00","height":2 }]
    }

What I want to happen is combine them into these:

    {"2013" : [
        { "date":"2013-05-02 11:13:00","height":3 },
        { "date":"2013-01-29 12:00:00","height":2 },
        { "date":"2013-01-09 12:00:00","height":0 }],
    "2012" : [
        { "date":"2012-09-28 15:34:00","height":2 },
        { "date":"2012-02-29 12:00:00","height":2 },
        { "date":"2012-02-09 12:00:00","height":0 }],
    "2011" : [
        { "date":"2011-03-29 12:00:00","height":2 },
        { "date":"2011-03-19 12:00:00","height":8 },
        { "date":"2011-03-09 12:00:00","height":3 }]
    }

Currently, what I am trying to do is two separate WebClient downloads, then attempting to combine them afterwards (unsuccessfully). I later realized that doing two separate WebClient downloads, one might not be finished before I attempt to combine them, resulting in a null reference.

    WebClient Url1 = new WebClient();
    Url1.DownloadStringCompleted += new      
        DownloadStringCompletedEventHandler(Url1_DownloadStringCompleted);
    Url1.DownloadStringAsync(new Uri("http://example.com"));
    WebClient Url2 = new WebClient();
    Url2.DownloadStringCompleted += new 
        DownloadStringCompletedEventHandler(Url2_DownloadStringCompleted);
    Url2.DownloadStringAsync(new Uri("http://anotherexample.com"));

    void Url1_DownloadStringCompleted(object sender,
        DownloadStringCompletedEventArgs e)
    {
    if (e.Error != null) return;
    json1 = JObject.Parse(e.Result);
    }

    void Url2_DownloadStringCompleted(object sender,
        DownloadStringCompletedEventArgs e)
    {
    if (e.Error != null) return;
    json2 = JObject.Parse(e.Result);
    }

What I've read so far is doing a queue, then combining it. However, I'm not sure if it makes sense as it will make the combined file an invalid JSON file, because of mismatching brackets. Also, I would have problems with regards to parsing dates because of the different formats.

Any suggestions as to what flow should I go?

Answer 1

As @cgatian said, you should create new class:

public class Item
{
    public DateTime Date { get; set; }
    public int Height { get; set; }
}

And then:

    var dictionary1 = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<Dictionary<int, Item[]>>(jsonFromUrl1);
    var dictionary2 = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<Dictionary<int, Item[]>>(jsonFromUrl2);

    var mergedDictionary = dictionary1
        .Concat(dictionary2)
        .GroupBy(x => x.Key, y => y.Value)
        .ToDictionary(
            group => group.Key,
            group => group.SelectMany(x => x).ToArray());