Is any ways to convert google protobuf message into json with indentation?

Question

I need to save Google protobuf IMessage object into json file, using C#. here is sample code:

using (var input = File.OpenRead(protodatFile)) 
{
    string jsonString = null;
    message.MergeFrom(input); //read message from protodat file
    JsonFormatter formater = new JsonFormatter(
        new JsonFormatter.Settings(false));
    jsonString = formatter.Format(message);
    System.IO.File.WriteAllText(jsonFile, jsonString);
}

This uses the JsonFormatter from the Google Protobuf library.

The problem: all json content is stored in one line. when file is quite big(>50 MB) it is hard to open/view in text editor.

What is the best way to make indented jsonFile here?

Answer 1

As an extremely inefficient workaround, one can use Json.NET to re-format the Protobuffer Json:

// Re-Parse the one-line protobuf json string into an object:
object parsed = Newtonsoft.Json.JsonConvert.DeserializeObject(jsonString);
// Format this object as JSON with indentation:
string jsonWithIndent = Newtonsoft.Json.JsonConvert.SerializeObject(parsed, Newtonsoft.Json.Formatting.Indented);

Since the original question asked about a 50MB file, this is probably a bad solution for such large-ish files, but given that I couldn't find anything on JsonFormatter.Settings, it was what I reached for.