Using ReadAsAsync<T>() to deserialize complex Json object

Question

I want to use ReadAsAsync() in my mvc project with .net 4.0. The result comes as null.

If I enter the uri to address bar, the result in chrome as(tag names are changed):

<ns2:MyListResponse xmlns:ns2="blablabla">
  <customerSessionId>xxcustomerSessionIdxx</customerSessionId>
  <numberOfRecordsRequested>0</numberOfRecordsRequested>
  <moreResultsAvailable>false</moreResultsAvailable>
  <MyList size="1" activePropertyCount="1">
    <MySummary order="0">
      <id>1234</id>
      <name>...</name>
      .
      .   
    </MySummary>
  </MyList>
</ns2:MyListResponse>

If I use the statement in code :

using (var client = new HttpClient())
{
     var response = client.GetAsync(apiUri).Result;
     var message = response.Content.ReadAsStringAsync().Result;

     var result1 = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<MyListResponse>(message);
     var result2 = response.Content.ReadAsAsync<MyListResponse>().Result;
}

the message comes in string format as "{\"MyListResponse\":{\"customerSessionId\"...}" which corresponds to a json object as:

{"MyListResponse":
    {"customerSessionId":"xxcustomerSessionIdxx",
     "numberOfRecordsRequested":0,
     "moreResultsAvailable":false,
     "MyList":
        {"@size":"1",
         "@activePropertyCount":"1",
         "MySummary":
            {"@order":"0",
             "id":1234,
             "name":"...",
             .
             .
            }
        }
    }
 } 

and the properties of result1 and result2 came as null or default values. Class definitions are below. I want to read the content as an object but I couldn't. What do you advice to solve this? What am I doing wrong? Thanks in advance.

public class MySummary
{
    public int @Order { get; set; }
    public string Id { get; set; }
    public string Name { get; set; }
    .
    .
}

public class MyList
{
    public int @Size { get; set; }
    public int @ActivePropertyCount { get; set; }
    public MySummary MySummary{ get; set; }
}

public class MyListResponse
{
    public string CustomerSessionId { get; set; }
    public int NumberOfRecordsRequested { get; set; }
    public bool MoreResultsAvailable { get; set; }
    public MyList MyList { get; set; }
}

Answer 1

I defined a new class as:

public class ResponseWrapper
{
    public MyListResponse MyListResponse { get; set; }
}

then I used this wrapper with,

 var result1 = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<ResponseWrapper>(message);
 var result2 = response.Content.ReadAsAsync<ResponseWrapper>().Result;

then it worked. I need only MySummary object but I should write more classes to make it work.

Answer 2

After reading your solution I came up with one that doesn't need an extra class:

    private static async Task<U> Execute<U>(HttpClient client, string path)
    {
        U output = default(U);

        HttpResponseMessage response = await client.GetAsync(path);

        if (response.IsSuccessStatusCode)
        {
            var jsonAsString = await response.Content.ReadAsStringAsync();
            output = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<U>(jsonAsString);
        }
        else
        {
            throw new ApplicationException(string.Format("Response message is not OK. Issues in action: {0}", path));
        }

        return output;
    }

Answer 3

For the sake of future readers, I think the correct approach is using ReadAsAsync overload that takes IEnumerable<MediaTypeFormatter> and provide a formatter with the same settings used on the server for serialization. That should fix it.

Answer 4

It is possible to use at client ReadAsAsync with MyListResponse directly (in consequence without ResponseWrapper). To do this, you can define "BodyStyle = WebMessageBodyStyle.Bare" in the operation contract of "apiuri" in stead of "BodyStyle = WebMessageBodyStyle.Wrapped" (server side, i.e. service contract).