Well, that was fun, but shortly after starting TinyJson, I found SimpleJson. It's much more thorough and complete than TinyJson at this point. I don't plan on continuing development of TinyJson because I have nothing to add here. ✨
Introducing TinyJson: a self-contained, single-file Json parser written in C#. TinyJson is designed to be a easy to use Json parser with no barriers to entry for library and small project developers. The goals of TinyJson are simple:
- Provide a simple API for Json parsing and querying
- Provide a file that can be included rather than a library to reference
Up to .Net 4.0 the only Json handling capability included in the BCL is the DataContractJsonSerializer. It has known, documented deficiencies and requires that you deseralize a whole type. Not to mention that, in this developers opinion, it's a pain to use.That may be what you're looking for. If so, go for it.
In .Net 4.5 Microsoft has added JsonValue to System.Runtime.Serialization.dll. It looks pretty promissing but, unless you're in a position to use .Net 4.5, this does you no good.
The current state of the art in dealing with Json appears to be NewtonSoft's Json.Net. It's pretty great. But, let's face it, it's hosted on CodePlex. Also, it requires that you add a reference to a Nuget package and dll.
Json.Net is great for most scenarios, but the simplified inclusion of TinyJson enables its use in the development of libraries and small projects without forcing yet another dependency on consumers (dependency hell, anyone?).
Whether you're building a GitHub API client or an Asp.Net module for OAuth authentication, chances are you're going to need to parse some Json. Do so with TinyJson and it will make your own library easier to reference in the future.
TinyJson is a parser, not a serializer or deserializer...yet. Usage is as simple as
object value = TinyJson.Json.Parse(@"{""property"": 1234}");
value will be an ObjectValue, ArrayValue, string, double, bool, or null
depending on whether the input represents an object, array, string, number, bool,
or null, respectively. If the input was a primitive type, simply cast and use.
If, on the other hand, your input represents a Json object then you are going
to be lucky enough to use TinyJson's object query syntax. It's not that fancy
really. It's just 'dot' notation with array indexers.
Nested 'dot' notation
var val = (ObjectValue)Json.Parse("{ \"property\": { \"property\": \"abc123\" } }");
var prop = (string)val["property.property"];
prop.Should().Be("abc123");
'dot' notation with array indexer
var val = (ObjectValue)Json.Parse("{ \"property\": { \"property\": [1234] }}");
var prop = (double)val["property.property[0]"];
prop.Should().Be(1234);