C# JSON Connector In this article you will learn, how to integrate JSON data to C# without coding in few clicks (Live / Bi-directional connection to JSON). JSON Connector can be used to extract and output JSON data stored in local JSON files, JSON data coming from REST API web service calls (Web URL) or direct JSON String (variables or DB columns). JSON Connector also supports JSONPath to filter data from nested array/sub-documents. This Connector is optimized to work with very large files. Using JSON API Connector you will be able to connect, read and write data from within C#. Let's take a look at the steps below to see how exactly to accomplish that. Download  Help File  Buy  Driver mentioned in this article is part of ODBC PowerPack which is a collection of high-performance Drivers for various API data source (i.e. REST API, JSON, XML, CSV, Amazon S3 and many more). Using familiar SQL query language you can make live connection and read/write data from API sources or JSON / XML / CSV Files inside SQL Server (T-SQL) or your favorite Reporting (i.e. Power BI, Tableau, Qlik, SSRS, MicroStrategy, Excel, MS Access), ETL Tools (i.e. Informatica, Talend, Pentaho, SSIS). You can also call our drivers from programming languages such as JAVA, C#, Python, PowerShell etc. If you are new with ODBC and ZappySys ODBC PowerPack then check below links to get started. ODBC PowerPack - System Requirements and Installation Getting Started - Using ODBC PowerPack ODBC API Driver Help File

See also Connect JSON in SSIS Connect JSON in SQL Server Connect JSON in Power BI Connect JSON in SSRS Connect JSON in Informatica Connect JSON in MS Access Connect JSON in MS Excel Connect JSON in SSAS Connect JSON in Python Connect JSON in JAVA Connect JSON in Tableau Connect JSON in SAP Crystal Reports Connect JSON in ODBC

Create ODBC Data Source (DSN) based on ZappySys JSON Driver

To get data from Json using C# we first need to create a DSN - Data Source - which will access data from Json, which later will be able to get using C#. Perform these steps:

1. Install ZappySys ODBC PowerPack.

2. Open ODBC Data Sources (x64):
   

3. Create a User Data Source (User DSN) based on ZappySys JSON Driver:

   

   You should create System DSN if client application is launched under Windows System Account, e.g. as a Windows Service.
   Launch ODBC Data Sources 32-bit version in case your client application is a 32-bit (x86) application (required only for System DSN).

4. Select Url or File and paste the following Url for this example.
   NOTE: Here for demo, I'm using odata API, but you need to refer your own API documentation and based on that you need to use your own API URL and need to configure connection based on API Authentication type

   http://https://services.odata.org/V3/Northwind/Northwind.svc/Customers?$format=json

5. Now enter JSONPath expression in Array Filter textbox to extract only specific part of JSON file as below ($.value[*] will get content of value attribute from JSON document. Value attribute is array of JSON documents so we have to use [*] to indicate we want all records of that array)
   NOTE: Here, I'm using my desired filter, but you need to select your desired filter based on your requirement.
   Click on Test Connection button to view whether the Test Connection is SUCCESSFUL or Not.

   $.value[*]
   

6. Once you configured a data source, you can preview data. Hit Preview tab, and use similar settings to preview data:
   

7. Click OK to finish creating the data source

Read data in C# from the DSN

1. Create a fresh new Console project and use this code to get the data:
   

   "JsonDSN"

   

2. Hit F5 to run the code and read the data:
   

3. Here is program's code in text format:

   
   using System;
   using System.Data.Odbc;
   
   namespace ConsoleApp {
       class Program {
           static void Main() {
               var dsn = "JsonDSN";
               using (var conn = new OdbcConnection(String.Format("DSN={0}", dsn)))
               {
                   conn.Open();
                   var cmd = new OdbcCommand("SELECT * FROM Products", conn);
                   var rdr = cmd.ExecuteReader();
                   while (rdr.Read())
                   {
                       for (int i = 0; i < rdr.FieldCount; i++)
                       {
                               Console.Write("{0}\t", rdr[i]);
                       }
                       Console.WriteLine();
                   }
               }
               Console.ReadKey();
           }
       }
   }
   
   

4. If you want to avoid to be dependent on a DSN name and creating multiple DSNs for each platform (x86, x64), then you can use a fully qualified connection string. Simply go to your DSN and copy the Connection String . Then in your C# code use Connection String when initializing OdbcConnection object, for example:

   using (var conn = new OdbcConnection("DRIVER={ZappySys API Driver};ServiceUrl=https://services.odata.org/V3/Northwind/Northwind.svc;Provider=OData;AuthName=Http;"))
    {
        // ...
    }
   

   How to overcome long ConnectionString Issue?

   If you copy ConnectionString from UI and if you have long RefreshToken=xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx...xxx, very long more than 1000 chars. It can cause the issue.

   To overcome from a such issue you can supply RefreshToken via file actually. You just need to cut the RefreshToken and paste it in some text file and save it and pass that file path instead of the RefreshToken.

   using (var conn = new OdbcConnection("Driver={ZappySys API Driver};RefreshToken=xxxxxx...xxx;ServiceUrl=xxx...;"))
    {
        // ...
    }
   

   You can use that file path in the ConnectionString, remove the RefreshToken=xxxxxx...xxx; attribute from the ConnectionString and you can pass RefreshTokenFile=c:\my_refresh_token.txt;

   using (var conn = new OdbcConnection("Driver={ZappySys API Driver};RefreshTokenFile={{YourRefreshTokenFilePath}};ServiceUrl=...;"))
     {
        // ...
     }
   

Create Custom Store Procedure in ZappySys Driver

You can create procedures to encapsulate custom logic and then only pass handful parameters rather than long SQL to execute your API call.

Steps to create Custom Store Procedure in ZappySys Driver. You can insert Placeholders anywhere inside Procedure Body. Read more about placeholders here

1. Go to Custom Objects Tab and Click on Add button and Select Add Procedure:
   

2. Enter the desired Procedure name and click on OK:
   

3. Select the created Store Procedure and write the your desired store procedure and Save it and it will create the custom store procedure in the ZappySys Driver:
   Here is an example stored procedure for ZappySys Driver. You can insert Placeholders anywhere inside Procedure Body. Read more about placeholders here
   

   CREATE PROCEDURE [usp_get_orders]
       @fromdate = '<<yyyy-MM-dd,FUN_TODAY>>'
    AS
       SELECT * FROM Orders where OrderDate >= '<@fromdate>';
   

   
   

4. That's it now go to Preview Tab and Execute your Store Procedure using Exec Command. In this example it will extract the orders from the date 1996-01-01:
   

   Exec usp_get_orders '1996-01-01';

   
   

Create Custom Virtual Table in ZappySys Driver

ZappySys API Drivers support flexible Query language so you can override Default Properties you configured on Data Source such as URL, Body. This way you don't have to create multiple Data Sources if you like to read data from multiple EndPoints. However not every application support supplying custom SQL to driver so you can only select Table from list returned from driver.

Many applications like MS Access, Informatica Designer wont give you option to specify custom SQL when you import Objects. In such case Virtual Table is very useful. You can create many Virtual Tables on the same Data Source (e.g. If you have 50 URLs with slight variations you can create virtual tables with just URL as Parameter setting.

1. Go to Custom Objects Tab and Click on Add button and Select Add Table:
   

2. Enter the desired Table name and click on OK:
   

3. And it will open the New Query Window Click on Cancel to close that window and go to Custom Objects Tab.

4. Select the created table, Select Text Type AS SQL and write the your desired SQL Query and Save it and it will create the custom table in the ZappySys Driver:
   Here is an example SQL query for ZappySys Driver. You can insert Placeholders also. Read more about placeholders here
   

   SELECT
     "ShipCountry",
     "OrderID",
     "CustomerID",
     "EmployeeID",
     "OrderDate",
     "RequiredDate",
     "ShippedDate",
     "ShipVia",
     "Freight",
     "ShipName",
     "ShipAddress",
     "ShipCity",
     "ShipRegion",
     "ShipPostalCode"
   FROM "Orders"
   Where "ShipCountry"='USA'

   
   

5. That's it now go to Preview Tab and Execute your custom virtual table query. In this example it will extract the orders for the USA Shipping Country only:
   

   SELECT * FROM "vt__usa_orders_only"

   
   

Conclusion

In this article we discussed how to connect to JSON in C# and integrate data without any coding. Click here to Download JSON Connector for C# and try yourself see how easy it is. If you still have any question(s) then ask here or simply click on live chat icon below and ask our expert (see bottom-right corner of this page).

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