How to pass an array to a string.Format() string when construct a Json string

Question

My code is below:

string requestBody = string.Format(
             @"{{
                   ""RequestServerVersion"":""2016.04.05"",
                   ""PreferredDate"":""{0}"",
                   ""StaffList"":""{1}""
               }}",
             preferredDate.Date.ToString("yyyy-MM-dd"),
             "test");

StaffList is a string array, If I pass a single string like "test", it won't work. How do I pass a string array to it in the string.Format(...)? Since in the server side, StaffList is handled as a string Array.

Thanks a lot!

You can convert your array content to JSON string and then pass it to String.Format. See the last answer here — Thangadurai
– Thangadurai, Commented Apr 5, 2016 at 5:37

Enigmativity · Accepted Answer · 2016-04-05 05:40:12Z

2

I would avoid rolling your own JSON when there are good libraries for making sure it works properly.

Try this with Newtonsoft.Json:

string[] staffList = new [] { "Alice", "Bob", "Charlie" };
DateTime preferredDate = DateTime.Now;

var data = new
{
    RequestServerVersion = "2016.04.05",
    PreferredDate = preferredDate.Date.ToString("yyyy-MM-dd"),
    StaffList = staffList,
};

string requestBody = Newtonsoft.Json.JsonConvert.SerializeObject(data);

This outputs:

{
    "RequestServerVersion":"2016.04.05",
    "PreferredDate":"2016-04-05",
    "StaffList":["Alice","Bob","Charlie"]
}

answered Apr 5, 2016 at 5:40

Enigmativity

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1 Comment

Ethan Over a year ago

Thanks Enigmativity. This is helpful.

Jannik · Accepted Answer · 2016-04-05 05:33:34Z

0

Two things that come into my mind:

Try to join the Array to a single string using string.Join() and split the string on serverside using string.Split()
Use the JSON Arrays Syntax in your code, Loop over each Array index and insert them one by one in this syntax: http://www.w3schools.com/json/json_syntax.asp

BTW: Have you considered to use Serialization instead of building your JSON on your own?

answered Apr 5, 2016 at 5:33

Jannik

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2 Comments

Ethan Over a year ago

Thanks, Jannik. I will close this question by marking it answered.

Jannik Over a year ago

Glad I could help.

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