Add BinaryData.ToDynamicFromJson()

[terrajobst]

Background and Motivation

We designed BinaryData as a simple one-stop shop converting data from and to binary data. This type is especially useful for the Azure SDK where many technologies store blobs of data but the consumer typically uses strings or JSON encoded data.

We've recently added JsonNode for .NET 6 which includes the ability to treat a JSON object as dynamic so that one can "dot" into the type without having to use the indexer syntax. The Azure SDK has asked me whether we could add a convenience method to BinaryData to directly convert a blob to a dynamic object.

Proposed API

namespace System
{
    public class BinaryData
    {
        public dynamic ToDynamicFromJson(JsonSerializerOptions? options = null);
    }
}

Usage Examples

Response response = client.SomeMethod("s1", 5, RequestContent.Create(model));
dynamic result = response.Content.ToDynamicFromJson();
Console.WriteLine(result.Baz);

Alternative Designs

The Azure SDK could define their own extension method, but that feels wrong.

Risks

None; BinaryData already depends on System.Text.Json. This new API doesn't change the dependency matrix.

/cc @steveharter @layomia @KrzysztofCwalina

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Issue Details

---

Background and Motivation

We designed BinaryData as a simple one-stop shop converting data from and to binary data. This type is especially useful for the Azure SDK where many technologies store blobs of data but the consumer typically uses strings or JSON encoded data.

We've recently added JsonNode for .NET 6 which includes the ability to treat a JSON object as dynamic so that one can "dot" into the type without having to use the indexer syntax. The Azure SDK has asked me whether we could add a convenience method to BinaryData to directly convert a blob to a dynamic object.

Proposed API

namespace System
{
    public class BinaryData
    {
        public T ToDynamicFromJson<T>(JsonSerializerOptions? options = null);
    }
}

Usage Examples

Response response = client.SomeMethod("s1", 5, RequestContent.Create(model));
dynamic result = response.Content.ToDynamicFromJson();
Console.WriteLine(result.Baz);

Alternative Designs

The Azure SDK could define their own extension method, but that feels wrong.

Risks

None; BinaryData already depends on System.Text.Json. This new API doesn't change the dependency matrix.

/cc @steveharter @layomia @KrzysztofCwalina

Author:	terrajobst
Assignees:	-
Labels:	api-suggestion, area-System.Text.Json
Milestone:	-

[stephentoub]

public T ToDynamicFromJson<T>(JsonSerializerOptions? options = null);

What is the T here?

[stephentoub]

This would also depend on a specific answer to the questions asked in #53195, yes?

[KrzysztofCwalina]

What is the T here?

It should return dynamic, i.e.

public dynamic ToDynamicFromJson() {
    dynamic result = JsonNode.Parse(this.ToMemory());
    return result;
}

[stephentoub]

public dynamic ToDynamicFromJson<T>(JsonSerializerOptions? options = null) {

And the <T>? Is that just a typo?

[KrzysztofCwalina]

And the <T>? Is that just a typo?

fixed above (i.e. removed T)

I also removed the options. They are not used by JsonNode.Parse. We could add overloads to take the JsonNode.Parse options, but I don't think any of these make sense on when reading JSON.

These are the JsonNode.Parse options:

public struct JsonNodeOptions {
    public bool PropertyNameCaseInsensitive { get; set; }
}

public struct JsonDocumentOptions {
    public bool AllowTrailingCommas { get; set; }
    public JsonCommentHandling CommentHandling { get; set; }
    public int MaxDepth { get; set; }
}

[terrajobst]

@stephentoub

public T ToDynamicFromJson<T>(JsonSerializerOptions? options = null);

What is the T here?

That's just me being dumb

[terrajobst]

@KrzysztofCwalina

fixed above (i.e. removed T)

I think you forgot to hit save :-)

I also removed the options. They are not used by JsonNode.Parse. We could add overloads to take the JsonNode.Parse options, but I don't think any of these make sense on when reading JSON.

Hmm.... I thought we'd need at least the ability to change naming conventions but you probably also want support for converters and reference handling, no?

[KrzysztofCwalina]

I think you forgot to hit save :-)

I just fixed my sample, not yours :-)

I thought we'd need at least the ability to change naming conventions but you probably also want support for converters and reference handling, no?

I might be misunderstanding what the options do. I dont see how they support converters. Your API proposal takes serializer options, but the implementation of this method will use JsonNode.Parse, which does not take serializer options.