Json parse result from virustotal api

Question

I was playing around with the virustotal api today while becoming back the result in this form:

{ "permalink" : "http://www.virustotal.com/file-scan/report.html?id=7b6b268cbca9d421aabba5f08533d3dcaba50e0f7887b07ef2bd66bf218b35ff-1304089592",
  "report" : [ "2011-04-29 15:06:32",
      { "AVG" : "Exploit_c.TVH",
        "AhnLab-V3" : "PDF/Exploit",
        "AntiVir" : "EXP/Pidief.UK",
        "Antiy-AVL" : "Trojan/win32.agent",
        "Avast" : "JS:Pdfka-gen",
        "Avast5" : "JS:Pdfka-gen",
        "BitDefender" : "Exploit.PDF-JS.Gen",
        "CAT-QuickHeal" : "",
        "ClamAV" : "",
        "Comodo" : "Exploit.JS.Pidief.~AWQ",
        "DrWeb" : "",
        "Emsisoft" : "Exploit.JS.Pdfka!IK",
        "F-Prot" : "",
        "F-Secure" : "Exploit:W32/Pidief.DEE",
        "Fortinet" : "",
        "GData" : "",
        "Ikarus" : "Exploit.JS.Pdfka",
        "Jiangmin" : "",
        "K7AntiVirus" : "",
        "Kaspersky" : "Exploit.JS.Pdfka.dnc",
        "McAfee" : "",
        "McAfee-GW-Edition" : "",
        "Microsoft" : "Exploit:Win32/Pdfjsc.NJ",
        "NOD32" : "PDF/Exploit.Pidief.PGD",
        "Norman" : "",
        "PCTools" : "Trojan.Pidief",
        "Panda" : "",
        "Prevx" : "",
        "Rising" : "",
        "SUPERAntiSpyware" : "",
        "Sophos" : "Troj/PDFJs-RD",
        "Symantec" : "Trojan.Pidief",
        "TheHacker" : "",
        "TrendMicro" : "TROJ_PIDIEF.VTG",
        "TrendMicro-HouseCall" : "TROJ_PIDIEF.VTG",
        "VBA32" : "",
        "VIPRE" : "Exploit.PDF-JS.Gen (v)",
        "ViRobot" : "PDF.S.Exploit.74634",
        "VirusBuster" : "",
        "eSafe" : "",
        "eTrust-Vet" : ""
      }
    ],
  "result" : 1
}

I would like to know how one can parse this result to fill a memo like:

Memo1.Lines.Add(Format('Antivirus: %0s Result: %1s', [...]));

Well, I really have no clue about all the JSon components which might be around to maybe someone can direct me to the right direction here?

Kindest regards,

H.Meiser

Answer 1

Parsing Json string is not difficult, you can use the DBXJSON unit included since delphi 2010.

check this sample code

Uses
  DBXJSON;

procedure TForm1.ParseString(const AString: string);
var
  json          : TJSONObject;
  jPair         : TJSONPair;
  jValue        : TJSONValue;
  jcValue       : TJSONValue;
  l,i           : Integer;
begin
    json    := TJSONObject.ParseJSONValue(TEncoding.ASCII.GetBytes(AString),0) as TJSONObject;
  try
    //get the pair to evaluate in this case the index is 1
    jPair   := json.Get(1);
    //cast the JsonValue to TJSONArray to access the elements of the array
    jValue := TJSONArray(jPair.JsonValue).Get(1);
    l:=TJSONArray(jValue).Size;
    for i:=0 to l-1 do
    begin
     //get the i element of the array 
     jcValue := TJSONArray(jValue).Get(i);
     //get the pair pointing to the i element 
     jPair   := TJSONPair(jcValue);
     //show the result 
     Memo1.Lines.Add(Format('Antivirus %s Result %s',[jPair.JsonString.Value,jPair.JsonValue.Value]));
    end;
  finally
     json.Free;
  end;
end;

As additional recommendation you must read a Json tutorial to learn how interpret the Json format and in this way you must be preparated to use any library available.

Answer 2

I recommend the open source JSON library SuperObject and online JSON inspectors like http://jsonviewer.stack.hu/ or http://json.parser.online.fr/ (this editor has a very useful option which adds type information to the view)