Vfrdtyky

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.