How to find out what type a JsonValue is in System.Text.Json

user_4364057 0
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So when I have a JsonNode I can just ask if it's a JsonObject or a JsonArray and work with those. But when the node is an actual value, how do I know whether it's a string, number or boolean?

Of course I could just try and parse the value, but then a number transmitted in a string would become a number instead of a string which I'd like to avoid.

I'm using System.Text.Json with .NET 6.

system.text.json c#
4 Answers

From the source, it looks like a JsonValue just wraps a JsonElement. So you can do .GetValue<JsonElement>() (which passes this check), and then inspect its ValueKind property.

user_10861210

The accepted answer only works for specific use cases, namely that the node in question is of type JsonValue.

I propose a better option is to first test for the basic kind of types there are in JSON.

someObject["SomeNode"] is JsonArray 
someObject["SomeNode"] is JsonObject
someObject["SomeNode"] is JsonValue

if the object is of type JsonValue one can use tryGetvalue to directly test for the expected value type

someObject["SomeNode"].AsValue().TryGetValue<someType>(out someType result)

TryGetValue returns true if it the value was parseble as the requested type.

If the expected type is completely unknown or variable (ugh), you could use the

someObject["SomeNode"].GetValue<JsonElement>().ValueKind

trick. But that only works for distinquishing between int and string and the bool values. Trying this on an array will give an exception. Therefore you first have to test with the "is" style syntax above.

user_7789130

Each JsonProperty has two properties - Name and Value of Type JsonElement. JsonElement has an Enum property named ValueKind which can help you determine what of what data type your JSON value is.

You can get JsonProperties by calling .EnumerateObject() on your JsonElement. You can work with your Json document as a JsonElement instead of JsonObject.

user_5229960

Depending on the type of JsonElement returned you have to handle it differently.

My case was that the returned element was ValueKind = Array : "[[47.751]]" So in order to get it I did created this method

private object GetValueFromJsonElement(WorkbookRange range)
{
    var element = range.Values.RootElement.EnumerateArray().First()[0];
    switch (element.ValueKind)
    {
        case JsonValueKind.Number:
            return element.GetDouble();

        case JsonValueKind.String:
            return element.GetString();

        case JsonValueKind.True:
        case JsonValueKind.False:
            return element.GetBoolean();
        default:
            throw new InvalidOperationException("The Value Type returned is not handled");
    }
}
user_81791090
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