Can Json.NET serialize / deserialize to / from a stream?

Question

I have heard that Json.NET is faster than DataContractJsonSerializer, and wanted to give it a try...

But I couldn't find any methods on JsonConvert that take a stream rather than a string.

For deserializing a file containing JSON on WinPhone, for example, I use the following code to read the file contents into a string, and then deserialize into JSON. It appears to be about 4 times slower in my (very ad-hoc) testing than using DataContractJsonSerializer to deserialize straight from the stream...

// DCJS
DataContractJsonSerializer dc = new DataContractJsonSerializer(typeof(Constants));
Constants constants = (Constants)dc.ReadObject(stream);

// JSON.NET
string json = new StreamReader(stream).ReadToEnd();
Constants constants = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<Constants>(json);

Am I doing it wrong?

Answer 1

The current version of Json.net does not allow you to use the accepted answer code. A current alternative is:

public static object DeserializeFromStream(Stream stream)
{
    var serializer = new JsonSerializer();

    using (var sr = new StreamReader(stream))
    using (var jsonTextReader = new JsonTextReader(sr))
    {
        return serializer.Deserialize(jsonTextReader);
    }
}

Documentation: Deserialize JSON from a file stream

Answer 2

public static void Serialize(object value, Stream s)
{
    using (StreamWriter writer = new StreamWriter(s))
    using (JsonTextWriter jsonWriter = new JsonTextWriter(writer))
    {
        JsonSerializer ser = new JsonSerializer();
        ser.Serialize(jsonWriter, value);
        jsonWriter.Flush();
    }
}

public static T Deserialize<T>(Stream s)
{
    using (StreamReader reader = new StreamReader(s))
    using (JsonTextReader jsonReader = new JsonTextReader(reader))
    {
        JsonSerializer ser = new JsonSerializer();
        return ser.Deserialize<T>(jsonReader);
    }
}

Answer 3

UPDATE: This no longer works in the current version, see below for correct answer (no need to vote down, this is correct on older versions).

Use the JsonTextReader class with a StreamReader or use the JsonSerializer overload that takes a StreamReader directly:

var serializer = new JsonSerializer();
serializer.Deserialize(streamReader);

Answer 4

I've written an extension class to help me deserializing from JSON sources (string, stream, file).

public static class JsonHelpers
{
    public static T CreateFromJsonStream<T>(this Stream stream)
    {
        JsonSerializer serializer = new JsonSerializer();
        T data;
        using (StreamReader streamReader = new StreamReader(stream))
        {
            data = (T)serializer.Deserialize(streamReader, typeof(T));
        }
        return data;
    }

    public static T CreateFromJsonString<T>(this String json)
    {
        T data;
        using (MemoryStream stream = new MemoryStream(System.Text.Encoding.Default.GetBytes(json)))
        {
            data = CreateFromJsonStream<T>(stream);
        }
        return data;
    }

    public static T CreateFromJsonFile<T>(this String fileName)
    {
        T data;
        using (FileStream fileStream = new FileStream(fileName, FileMode.Open))
        {
            data = CreateFromJsonStream<T>(fileStream);
        }
        return data;
    }
}

Deserializing is now as easy as writing:

MyType obj1 = aStream.CreateFromJsonStream<MyType>();
MyType obj2 = "{\"key\":\"value\"}".CreateFromJsonString<MyType>();
MyType obj3 = "data.json".CreateFromJsonFile<MyType>();

Hope it will help someone else.

Answer 5

I arrived at this question looking for a way to stream an open ended list of objects onto a System.IO.Stream and read them off the other end, without buffering the entire list before sending. (Specifically I'm streaming persisted objects from MongoDB over Web API.)

@Paul Tyng and @Rivers did an excellent job answering the original question, and I used their answers to build a proof of concept for my problem. I decided to post my test console app here in case anyone else is facing the same issue.

using System;
using System.Diagnostics;
using System.IO;
using System.IO.Pipes;
using System.Threading;
using System.Threading.Tasks;
using Newtonsoft.Json;

namespace TestJsonStream {
    class Program {
        static void Main(string[] args) {
            using(var writeStream = new AnonymousPipeServerStream(PipeDirection.Out, HandleInheritability.None)) {
                string pipeHandle = writeStream.GetClientHandleAsString();
                var writeTask = Task.Run(() => {
                    using(var sw = new StreamWriter(writeStream))
                    using(var writer = new JsonTextWriter(sw)) {
                        var ser = new JsonSerializer();
                        writer.WriteStartArray();
                        for(int i = 0; i < 25; i++) {
                            ser.Serialize(writer, new DataItem { Item = i });
                            writer.Flush();
                            Thread.Sleep(500);
                        }
                        writer.WriteEnd();
                        writer.Flush();
                    }
                });
                var readTask = Task.Run(() => {
                    var sw = new Stopwatch();
                    sw.Start();
                    using(var readStream = new AnonymousPipeClientStream(pipeHandle))
                    using(var sr = new StreamReader(readStream))
                    using(var reader = new JsonTextReader(sr)) {
                        var ser = new JsonSerializer();
                        if(!reader.Read() || reader.TokenType != JsonToken.StartArray) {
                            throw new Exception("Expected start of array");
                        }
                        while(reader.Read()) {
                            if(reader.TokenType == JsonToken.EndArray) break;
                            var item = ser.Deserialize<DataItem>(reader);
                            Console.WriteLine("[{0}] Received item: {1}", sw.Elapsed, item);
                        }
                    }
                });
                Task.WaitAll(writeTask, readTask);
                writeStream.DisposeLocalCopyOfClientHandle();
            }
        }

        class DataItem {
            public int Item { get; set; }
            public override string ToString() {
                return string.Format("{{ Item = {0} }}", Item);
            }
        }
    }
}

Note that you may receive an exception when the AnonymousPipeServerStream is disposed, I ignored this as it isn't relevant to the problem at hand.