Myujth

I have a JSON string like below:

 "MetaData": 
 "ResourcesUsed": 1
 ,
 "Result": [
 
 "locations": [
 
 "country": "Papua New Guinea",
 "city": "Jacquinot Bay",
 "locTypeAttributes": 
 "localDate": "2018-10-08T04:21:00-07:00",
 "utcDate": "2018-10-08T04:21:00-07:00",
 ,
 "point": 
 "coordinates": [
 151.52,
 -5.6
 ],
 "type": "Point"
 
 ,
 "country": "Papua New Guinea2",
 "city": "Jacquinot Bay2",
 "locTypeAttributes": 
 "localDate": "2018-10-08T04:21:00-07:00",
 "utcDate": "2018-10-02T04:21:00-07:00",
 ,
 "point": 
 "coordinates": [
 151.52,
 -5.6
 ],
 "type": "Point"
 
 
 ]
 
 ]

I converted it to a JSON object using Newtonsoft. What I want to do is to sort the locations array(s) inside the Result array by the utcDate field nested in each locations item. I found the following thread: C# Sort JSON string keys. However, I could not still implement it since I have arrays inside my object, while that question deals purely with sorting objects inside objects alphabetically by property name.

Here is a piece of code that I wrote so far:

public string GenerateJson()

 var model = (JObject)JsonConvert.DeserializeObject(data);
 Sort(model);

private void Sort(JObject jObj)

 var props = jObj["Result"][0]["locations"].ToList();
 foreach (var prop in props)
 
 prop.Remove();
 

 foreach (var prop in props.OrderBy(p => p.Name))
 
 jObj.Add(prop);
 if (prop.Value is JObject)
 Sort((JObject)prop.Value);
 if (prop.Value is JArray)
 
 Int32 iCount = prop.Value.Count();
 for (Int32 iIterator = 0; iIterator < iCount; iIterator++)
 if (prop.Value[iIterator] is JObject)
 Sort((JObject)prop.Value[iIterator]);
 
 

You can sort each individual "Result[*].locations" array using LINQ as follows:

// Load the JSON without parsing or converting any dates.
var model = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<JObject>(data, new JsonSerializerSettings DateParseHandling = DateParseHandling.None );

// Construct a serializer that converts all DateTime values to UTC
var serializer = JsonSerializer.CreateDefault(new JsonSerializerSettings DateTimeZoneHandling = DateTimeZoneHandling.Utc );

foreach (var locations in model.SelectTokens("Result[*].locations").OfType<JArray>())

 // Then sort the locations by utcDate converting the value to UTC at this time.
 var query = from location in locations
 let utcDate = location.SelectToken("locTypeAttributes.utcDate").ToObject<DateTime>(serializer)
 orderby utcDate
 select location;
 locations.ReplaceAll(query.ToList());

Notes:

• 
  

  The JSON is initially loaded using DateParseHandling.None to prevent the "localDate" and "utcDate" strings from being prematurely interpreted as DateTime objects with a uniform DateTime.Kind.

  
  
  

  (For a discussion of how Json.NET interprets strings that look like dates, see Serializing Dates in JSON.)

  
  



• We then iterate through all "locations" arrays using SelectTokens("Result[*].locations") where [*] is the JSONPath wildcard character, selecting all entries in the "Results" array.




• We then order each "locations" array by deserializing the nested locTypeAttributes.utcDate to a UTC date, then ordering using LINQ.




• Finally the array is updated using JArray.ReplaceAll().




• If any locTypeAttributes.utcDate property is missing, an exception will be thrown. You could instead deserialize to DateTime? if that is a possibility.

Working sample .Net fiddle here.