Read specific value from JSON in C#

Question

So I have a JSON string where I just want to read a specific value. How do I just pick "Read me please!" from string below?

var readString = /*Read me please!*/

JSON string:

"{\"aString\":\"Read me please!\"}"

For better understanding, how do I do the same here? (just "Read me please!"):

"{\"Result\":
    {    
    \"aString\":\"Read me please!\",
    \"anotherString\":\"Dont read me!\"
    }    
}"

If both alternative have different solution I would like to know both.

PS: I do not wish to save the value into object/class or so. Just temporary inside var readString.

Answer 1

You could write a model:

public class MyModel
{
    public string AString { get; set; }
}

and then use a JSON serializer such as Json.NET:

string readString = "{\"aString\":\"Read me please!\"}";
MyModel model = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<MyModel>(readString);
Console.WriteLine(model.AString);

If you don't want to use third party solutions you could use the built-in JavaScriptSerializer class:

string readString = "{\"aString\":\"Read me please!\"}";
MyModel model = new JavaScriptSerializer().Deserialize<MyModel>(readString);
Console.WriteLine(model.AString);

Now assuming you want to handle your second JSON string you could simply adapt your model:

public class Wrapper
{
    public MyModel Result { get; set; }
}

public class MyModel
{
    public string AString { get; set; }
    public string AnotherString { get; set; }
}

and then deserialize to this wrapper class:

string readString = ... the JSON string in your second example ...;
Wrapper wrapper = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<Wrapper>(readString);
Console.WriteLine(wrapper.Result.AString);
Console.WriteLine(wrapper.Result.AnotherString);

---

UPDATE:

And if you don't want to deserialize to a model you could directly do this:

string readString = "{\"aString\":\"Read me please!\"}";
var res = (JObject)JsonConvert.DeserializeObject(readString);
Console.WriteLine(res.Value<string>("aString"));

or with the built-in JavaScriptSerializer class:

string readString = "{\"aString\":\"Read me please!\"}";
var serializer = new JavaScriptSerializer();
var res = (IDictionary<string, object>)serializer.DeserializeObject(readString);
Console.WriteLine(res["aString"]);