Retrieving JSON Data

JSON values are stored in database columns of type JSON. The data retrieval mechanism for JSON values is the same as for any other data stored in Backendless database. You can use the data retrieval API to retrieve objects from the Backendless database. Data in the JSON columns is returned to the client application as either a strongly-typed object or as . Consider the example below:

Suppose the database stores objects in the Person data table. The table declares the profile column of type JSON. The column contains JSON values in the following format:

{
  "age": 55,
  "name": "Bob",
  "address": {
    "city": "Los Angeles",
    "state": "California",
    "street": "123 Santa Monica Blvd."
  },
  "lastname": "Smith",
  "favoriteColors": [
    "Blue", "Red"
  ],
  "favoriteNumbers": [
    13, 21, 88
  ]
}

As you can see the sample JSON value above exhibits the following "qualities":

• literal string and numeric values - age, name and lastname keys.
• an array consisting of strings - favoriteColors
• an array consisting of numbers - favoriteNumbers
• an enclosed JSON object in the address key.

The JSON values and the Person objects may appear as shown below in the database:

Suppose the client application needs to retrieve both Person objects and the corresponding profile values . This can be accomplished with the following code:

// TODO

The code produces the following log output:

Name Bob
Last name Smith
Age 55
Favorite numbers [13, 21, 88]
Favorite colors [Blue, Red]
Street 123 Santa Monica Blvd.
City Los Angeles
State California

As you can see, the entire JSON structure is converted to a  with all the key/value pairs becoming corresponding entries in the returned object.

Your application may use an alternative approach - representing objects in the Backendless database with strongly-typed classes. In the context of the example above, this means you will have the Person class defined in your application. But then there is a question of what data type to use for the profile property? In this case, you have a choice for how to represent the JSON values. You can use either strongly-typed objects or the approach described above. See the example below:

Using DictionaryCustom Class

Person class with "profile" defined as java.util.Map:

public class Person
{
  public Dictionary<Object, Object> profile {get; set;};
}

Code to retrieve Person with profile:

Backendless.Data.Of<Person>().FindById( OBJECT_ID, new AsyncCallback<Person>(
        person =>
        {
          Dictionary<Object, Object> profile = person.Profile;
          Console.WriteLine( "Name ", profile[ "name" ] );
          //Console.WriteLine("Last name ", profile["lastname"]);
          Console.WriteLine( "Age ", profile[ "age" ] );
          Console.Write( "Favorite numbers [" );

          foreach( Int32 number in (Int32[]) profile[ "favoriteNumbers" ] )
            Console.Write( $"{number} " );
          Console.Write( "]\nFavorite colors [" );

          foreach( String color in (String[]) profile[ "favoriteColors" ] )
            Console.Write( $"{color} " );

          Dictionary<Object, Object> address = (Dictionary<Object, Object>) profile[ "address" ];
          Console.WriteLine( "]\nStreet " + address[ "street" ] );
          Console.WriteLine( "City " + address[ "city" ] );
          Console.WriteLine( "State " + address[ "state" ] );

        },
        fault =>
        {
          Console.WriteLine( fault.Message );
        } ) );

Person class with "profile" defined as a custom class.

public class Person
  {
    [SetClientClassMemberName( "profile" )]
    public Profile Profile { get; set; }
  }

Profile class:

public class Profile
  {
    [SetClientClassMemberName("age")]
    public String Age { get; set; }
    [SetClientClassMemberName("name")]
    public String Name { get; set; }
    [SetClientClassMemberName("lastname")]
    public String Lastname { get; set; }
    [SetClientClassMemberName("address")]
    public Address Address { get; set; }
    [SetClientClassMemberName("favoriteColors")]
    public String[] FavoriteColors { get; set; }
    [SetClientClassMemberName("favoriteNumbers")]
    public Int32[] FavoriteNumbers { get; set; }
  }

Address class:

public class Address
  {
    [SetClientClassMemberName("city")]
    public String City;
    [SetClientClassMemberName("state")]
    public String State;
    [SetClientClassMemberName("street")]
    public String Street;
  }

Code to retrieve Person with profile:

Backendless.Data.Of<Person>().FindById( OBJECT_ID, new AsyncCallback<Person>(
        person =>
        {
          Profile profile = person.Profile;

          Console.WriteLine( "Name ", profile.Name );
          Console.WriteLine("Last name ", profile.Lastname);
          Console.WriteLine( "Age ", profile.Age );
          Console.Write( "Favorite numbers [" );

          foreach( Int32 number in (Int32[]) profile.FavoriteNumbers )
            Console.Write( $"{number} " );
          Console.Write( "]\nFavorite colors [" );

          foreach( String color in (String[]) profile.FavoriteColors )
            Console.Write( $"{color} " );

          Address address = profile.Address;
          Console.WriteLine( "]\nStreet " + address.Street );
          Console.WriteLine( "City " + address.City );
          Console.WriteLine( "State " + address.State );
        },
        fault =>
        {
          Console.WriteLine( fault.Message );
        } ) );

In case when the JSON values are represented as strongly-typed classes, Backendless automatically adapts them to the instances of your classes. It is important to maintain the basic fidelity between the JSON types and the corresponding  types as shown below: