How to handle overflow JSON or use JsonElement or JsonNode

This article shows how to handle overflow JSON with the System.Text.Json namespace. It also shows how to deserialize into JsonElement or JsonNode, as an alternative for other scenarios where the target type might not perfectly match all of the JSON being deserialized.

Handle overflow JSON

While deserializing, you might receive data in the JSON that is not represented by properties of the target type. For example, suppose your target type is this:

public class WeatherForecast
{
    public DateTimeOffset Date { get; set; }
    public int TemperatureCelsius { get; set; }
    public string? Summary { get; set; }
}

Public Class WeatherForecast
    Public Property [Date] As DateTimeOffset
    Public Property TemperatureCelsius As Integer
    Public Property Summary As String
End Class

And the JSON to be deserialized is this:

{
  "Date": "2019-08-01T00:00:00-07:00",
  "temperatureCelsius": 25,
  "Summary": "Hot",
  "DatesAvailable": [
    "2019-08-01T00:00:00-07:00",
    "2019-08-02T00:00:00-07:00"
  ],
  "SummaryWords": [
    "Cool",
    "Windy",
    "Humid"
  ]
}

If you deserialize the JSON shown into the type shown, the DatesAvailable and SummaryWords properties have nowhere to go and are lost. To capture extra data such as these properties, apply the [JsonExtensionData] attribute to a property or field. Use one of these supported declarations:

• Declare the extension-data member as JsonObject.
• Declare the extension-data member as IDictionary<string, object>.
• Declare the extension-data member as IDictionary<string, JsonElement>.
• Declare the extension-data member as IReadOnlyDictionary<string, object> in .NET 11 and later.
• Declare the extension-data member as IReadOnlyDictionary<string, JsonElement> in .NET 11 and later.

For mutable dictionary extension data, use any type assignable to one of the supported IDictionary interfaces, such as Dictionary<string, JsonElement>. The read-only declarations must use one of the exact IReadOnlyDictionary interface types listed above.

public class WeatherForecastWithExtensionData
{
    public DateTimeOffset Date { get; set; }
    public int TemperatureCelsius { get; set; }
    public string? Summary { get; set; }
    [JsonExtensionData]
    public Dictionary<string, JsonElement>? ExtensionData { get; set; }
}

Public Class WeatherForecastWithExtensionData
    Public Property [Date] As DateTimeOffset
    Public Property TemperatureCelsius As Integer
    Public Property Summary As String

    <JsonExtensionData>
    Public Property ExtensionData As Dictionary(Of String, Object)

End Class

For an IReadOnlyDictionary extension-data member, .NET 11 materializes a Dictionary<string, object> or Dictionary<string, JsonElement>. The member must be writable because the serializer seeds the new dictionary from existing values and assigns it back. If an incoming JSON property duplicates an existing key, the incoming value wins.

The following table shows the result of deserializing the JSON shown earlier into this sample type. The extra data becomes key-value pairs of the ExtensionData property:

When the target object is serialized, the extension data key value pairs become JSON properties just as they were in the incoming JSON:

{
  "Date": "2019-08-01T00:00:00-07:00",
  "TemperatureCelsius": 0,
  "Summary": "Hot",
  "temperatureCelsius": 25,
  "DatesAvailable": [
    "2019-08-01T00:00:00-07:00",
    "2019-08-02T00:00:00-07:00"
  ],
  "SummaryWords": [
    "Cool",
    "Windy",
    "Humid"
  ]
}

Notice that the ExtensionData property name doesn't appear in the JSON. This behavior lets the JSON make a round trip without losing any extra data that otherwise wouldn't be deserialized.

Starting in .NET 11, serialization flattens JsonObject extension data into the containing JSON object. The JsonObject properties appear directly in the containing object, not under the extension-data member name.

The following example shows a round trip from JSON to a deserialized object and back to JSON:

using System.Text.Json;
using System.Text.Json.Serialization;

namespace RoundtripExtensionData
{
    public class WeatherForecast
    {
        public DateTimeOffset Date { get; set; }
        public int TemperatureCelsius { get; set; }
        public string? Summary { get; set; }
        [JsonExtensionData]
        public Dictionary<string, JsonElement>? ExtensionData { get; set; }
    }

    public class Program
    {
        public static void Main()
        {
            string jsonString =
@"{
  ""Date"": ""2019-08-01T00:00:00-07:00"",
  ""temperatureCelsius"": 25,
  ""Summary"": ""Hot"",
  ""SummaryField"": ""Hot"",
  ""DatesAvailable"": [
    ""2019-08-01T00:00:00-07:00"",
    ""2019-08-02T00:00:00-07:00""
  ],
  ""SummaryWords"": [
    ""Cool"",
    ""Windy"",
    ""Humid""
  ]
}";
            WeatherForecast weatherForecast = 
                JsonSerializer.Deserialize<WeatherForecast>(jsonString)!;

            var serializeOptions = new JsonSerializerOptions { WriteIndented = true };
            jsonString = JsonSerializer.Serialize(weatherForecast, serializeOptions);
            Console.WriteLine($"JSON output:\n{jsonString}\n");
        }
    }
}
// output:
//JSON output:
//{
//  "Date": "2019-08-01T00:00:00-07:00",
//  "TemperatureCelsius": 0,
//  "Summary": "Hot",
//  "temperatureCelsius": 25,
//  "SummaryField": "Hot",
//  "DatesAvailable": [
//    "2019-08-01T00:00:00-07:00",
//    "2019-08-02T00:00:00-07:00"
//  ],
//  "SummaryWords": [
//    "Cool",
//    "Windy",
//    "Humid"
//  ]
//}

Deserialize into JsonElement or JsonNode

If you just want to be flexible about what JSON is acceptable for a particular property, an alternative is to deserialize into JsonElement or JsonNode. Any valid JSON property can be deserialized into JsonElement or JsonNode. Choose JsonElement to create an immutable object or JsonNode to create a mutable object.

The following example shows a round trip from JSON and back to JSON for a class that includes properties of type JsonElement and JsonNode.

using System.Text.Json;
using System.Text.Json.Nodes;

namespace RoundtripJsonElementAndNode
{
    public class WeatherForecast
    {
        public DateTimeOffset Date { get; set; }
        public int TemperatureCelsius { get; set; }
        public string? Summary { get; set; }
        public JsonElement DatesAvailable { get; set; }
        public JsonNode? SummaryWords { get; set; }
    }
        public class Program
    {
        public static void Main()
        {
            string jsonString =
@"{
  ""Date"": ""2019-08-01T00:00:00-07:00"",
  ""TemperatureCelsius"": 25,
  ""Summary"": ""Hot"",
  ""DatesAvailable"": [
    ""2019-08-01T00:00:00-07:00"",
    ""2019-08-02T00:00:00-07:00""
  ],
  ""SummaryWords"": [
    ""Cool"",
    ""Windy"",
    ""Humid""
  ]
}";
            WeatherForecast? weatherForecast = 
                JsonSerializer.Deserialize<WeatherForecast>(jsonString);

            var serializeOptions = new JsonSerializerOptions { WriteIndented = true };
            jsonString = JsonSerializer.Serialize(weatherForecast, serializeOptions);
            Console.WriteLine(jsonString);
        }
    }
}
// output:
//{
//  "Date": "2019-08-01T00:00:00-07:00",
//  "TemperatureCelsius": 25,
//  "Summary": "Hot",
//  "DatesAvailable": [
//    "2019-08-01T00:00:00-07:00",
//    "2019-08-02T00:00:00-07:00"
//  ],
//  "SummaryWords": [
//    "Cool",
//    "Windy",
//    "Humid"
//  ]
//}

See also

• System.Text.Json overview
• How to serialize and deserialize JSON