additional-classes.md

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title	Additional Classes
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Additional Classes

In addition to JSONPath, a few additional classes are provided to support pointer-style property diving, element comparisons, and dynamic property access.

JsonNodeFactory

The JsonNodeFactory efficiently converts a JsonElement to a JsonNode with minimal memory allocation. This method performs substantially better than the common serialize deserialize, or parse raw string techniques.

Class	Description
JsonNodeFactory	Efficiently convert a JsonElement to a JsonNode

JsonPath Pointer

JsonPathPointer acts similarly to JSON Pointer; it expects an absolute path that returns a single element. Unlike JSON Pointer, property diving notation expects normalized JSON Path notation.

Class	Description
JsonPathPointer<JsonElement>	Dives for properties using absolute locations like $.store.book[2].author

The syntax supports absolute (normalized) paths; dotted notation, quoted names, and simple bracketed array accessors only. The intention is to return a single element by literal path.

Json path style wildcard '*', '..', and '[a,b]' multi-result selector notations and filters are not supported.

JsonElement Path

Unlike JsonNode, JsonElement does not have a Path property. JsonPathBuilder will find the path for a given JsonElement.

Class	Description
JsonPathBuilder	Returns the JsonPath location string for a given element

Equality Helpers

Method	Description
JsonElement.DeepEquals	Performs a deep equals comparison on two JsonElements
JsonElementDeepEqualityComparer	A deep equals equality comparer that compares two JsonElements

Dynamic Object Serialization

Basic support is provided for serializing to and from dynamic objects through the use of a custom JsonConverter. The DynamicJsonConverter class is useful for simple scenareos. It is intended as a simple helper for basic use cases only. A helper methods JsonHelper.ConvertToDynamic is provided to simplify the process of serializing and deserializing dynamic objects.

Example: Convert To Dynamic

var root = JsonDocument.Parse(jsonInput); // jsonInput contains the bookstore example
var element = JsonHelper.ConvertToDynamic( source );

var book = element.store.book[0];
var author = book.author;
var price = book.price;

Assert.IsTrue( price == 8.95 );
Assert.IsTrue( author == "Nigel Rees" );

Example: Serialize To Dynamic

var serializerOptions = new JsonSerializerOptions
{
    Converters = {new DynamicJsonConverter()}
};

// jsonInput contains the bookstore example
var jobject = JsonSerializer.Deserialize<dynamic>( jsonInput, serializerOptions);

Assert.IsTrue( jobject.store.bicycle.color == "red" );

var jsonOutput = JsonSerializer.Serialize<dynamic>( jobject, serializerOptions ) as string;

Assert.IsTrue( jsonInput == jsonOutput );

Enum handling

When deserializing, the converter will treat enumerations as strings. You can override this behavior by setting the TryReadValueHandler on the converter. This handler will allow you to intercept and convert string and numeric values during the deserialization process.