Liquid XML Objects (C#, Visual Basic .Net) / Using the Generated Code / Reading JSON
In This Topic
    Reading JSON
    In This Topic

    Liquid XML Objects generates an XML Data Model from an XML Schema with functionality to deserialize JSON documents in to the XML Data Model. Consider the following XML Schema:

     Sample XML Schema

            

     

    Bookstore.xsd
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    <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
    <!--Created with Liquid Studio (https://www.liquid-technologies.com)-->
    <xsd:schema xmlns:bs="http://www.liquid-technologies.com/sample/bookstore" elementFormDefault="qualified" targetNamespace="http://www.liquid-technologies.com/sample/bookstore" version="1.0" xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema">
        <xsd:complexType name="bookstoreType">
            <xsd:sequence>
                <xsd:element name="book" type="bs:bookType" minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="unbounded" />
            </xsd:sequence>
        </xsd:complexType>
        <xsd:complexType name="bookType">
            <xsd:sequence>
                <xsd:element name="title">
                    <xsd:annotation>
                        <xsd:documentation>The title of the book. 
    Max 50 characters.</xsd:documentation>
                    </xsd:annotation>
                    <xsd:simpleType>
                        <xsd:restriction base="xsd:string">
                            <xsd:maxLength value="50" />
                        </xsd:restriction>
                    </xsd:simpleType>
                </xsd:element>
                <xsd:element name="author" type="bs:authorName" />
                <xsd:element name="genre" minOccurs="0">
                    <xsd:simpleType>
                        <xsd:restriction base="xsd:string">
                            <xsd:enumeration value="Reference" />
                            <xsd:enumeration value="Science fiction" />
                            <xsd:enumeration value="Action and Adventure" />
                            <xsd:enumeration value="Romance" />
                            <xsd:enumeration value="Mystery" />
                            <xsd:enumeration value="Horror" />
                            <xsd:enumeration value="Health" />
                            <xsd:enumeration value="Travel" />
                            <xsd:enumeration value="History" />
                            <xsd:enumeration value="Fantasy" />
                        </xsd:restriction>
                    </xsd:simpleType>
                </xsd:element>
            </xsd:sequence>
            <xsd:attribute name="price" use="required">
                <xsd:simpleType>
                    <xsd:restriction base="xsd:decimal">
                        <xsd:fractionDigits value="2" />
                    </xsd:restriction>
                </xsd:simpleType>
            </xsd:attribute>
            <xsd:attribute name="publicationdate" type="xsd:date" />
            <xsd:attribute name="ISBN" type="xsd:string" />
        </xsd:complexType>
        <xsd:element name="bookstore" type="bs:bookstoreType" />
        <xsd:complexType name="authorName">
            <xsd:sequence>
                <xsd:element name="first-name" type="xsd:string">
                    <xsd:annotation>
                        <xsd:documentation>The authors first name.
    Max 50 characters.</xsd:documentation>
                    </xsd:annotation>
                </xsd:element>
                <xsd:element name="last-name" type="xsd:string" />
            </xsd:sequence>
        </xsd:complexType>
    </xsd:schema>
    
     Sample Reader Code

    The following code illustrates how to create a generated XML Data Model object from an JSON document.

    The LjSerializer class performs the work of deserializing the JSON data and constructing the XML Data Model object.

    Writing data into the generated classes
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    LjSerializer<BookstoreElm> serializer = new LjSerializer<BookstoreElm>();
    BookstoreElm bookstore = serializer.Deserialize(@"..\..\BookstoreSample.xml");
    
    // Display details about the books
    foreach (var book in bookstore.Books)
        Console.WriteLine($"Book : {book.Title} by {book.Author.First_Name} {book.Author.Last_Name} published on {book.Publicationdate}");
    

    Once the bookstore object has been deserialized it contains all the data loaded from the JSON document, errors will have been raised for any invalid content (see Error Handling and Unexpected Elements). The objects properties can be read from and modified, it can then be serialized back to JSON (see Writing JSON) using the and the LjSerializer object.

     

    This example code is generated using the default 'Simplified Model', other model options are explored in Code Generation Models.
     Sample JSON Document
    BookstoreSample.json
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    {
      "bookstore": {
        "@xmlns": "http://www.liquid-technologies.com/sample/bookstore",
        "@xmlns:xsi": "http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance",
        "book": [
          {
            "@price": 4.99,
            "@publicationdate": "2008-10-20",
            "@ISBN": "978-0747596837",
            "title": "The Graveyard Book",
            "author": {
              "first-name": "Neil",
              "last-name": "Gaiman"
            },
            "genre": "Horror"
          },
          {
            "@price": 21.99,
            "@publicationdate": "2002-05-14",
            "@ISBN": "0-596-00252-1",
            "title": "XML Schemas",
            "author": {
              "first-name": "Eric",
              "last-name": "van der Vlist"
            },
            "genre": "Reference"
          },
          {
            "@price": 5.99,
            "@publicationdate": "1999-05-02",
            "@ISBN": "0-945-16546-1",
            "title": "The Portable Door",
            "author": {
              "first-name": "Tom",
              "last-name": "Holt"
            },
            "genre": "Reference"
          }
        ]
      }
    }
    

     

    LjSerializer

    The LjSerializer uses the meta data attributes associated with the generated class to serialize and de-serialize them to XML.

    The easiest way to use the LjSerializer class is via the generic wrapper LjSerializer<T>. The templated version does some of the configuration and casting making it easier to work with.

    The LjSerializer object is quite expensive to create, and LjSerializer<T> will implicitly create an LjSerializer instance in its constructor (unless one is explicitly supplied). So if your code repeatedly creates instances of LjSerializer<T> (for the same or different types of T), then you should consider explicitly creating an instance of  LjSerializer and passing it to the constructor of LjSerializer<T>.

    LjSerializer (and thus LjSerializer<T>) are not thread safe. i.e. don't share them between threads.