How do I deserialize GP Result Json?

Question

The value part of a GP Result can be any type of GP object (or literal).

Does anyone know of a general way to deserialize this, preferably with either WCF or Json.NET?

I'd prefer not to have to write a deserializer for each different GP tool.

{
   "results":[
      {
         "paramName":"Output",
         "dataType":"GPFeatureRecordSetLayer",
         "value":{
            "geometryType":"esriGeometryPolyline",
            "spatialReference":{
               "wkid":4326
            },
            "features":[
               {
                  "geometry":{
                     "paths":[
                        [
                           [
                              -91.6849975582907,
                              24.206096649241
                           ],
                           [
                              -91.8398132323948,
                              24.4056720735074
                           ]
                        ]
                     ]
                  },
                  "attributes":{
                     "FID":1,
                     "FNODE_":0,
                     "Shape_Length":0.25258314060805
                  }
               }
            ],
            "exceededTransferLimit":"false"
         }
      }
   ],
   "messages":[

   ]
}  

Update: I never figured out a way to do this. If Esri wants to encourage consumption of GP services by a wider variety of clients they should consider serializing the .NET type name, similar to what can be done with Json.NET by setting TypeNameHandling = Objects.

Answer 1

Json.NET supports deserializing into anonymous types, but it's not as helpful as I'd originally thought - you have to provide a template:

var example = new { paramName = string.Empty, dataType = string.Empty };
var gpResult = JsonConvert.DeserializeAnonymousType(json, example);

It would get you part of the way to what you're looking for, but you'd still have to do some work afterwards to move the data into more statically typed data structures. You could at least have better visibility into the datatypes and switch (or subclass) as needed from there.

Unfortunately, given the variability of the content in the responses, I don't see how you could make a class that would be able to represent it properly / generically.

Update:

If you're using C# 4, apparently Json.NET supports the dynamic data type. That might be of more help. I'm not using it here, so I can't test and see what'd happen, unfortunately. There may be some information of value over this way.

Answer 2

See my answer to your other question, it might provide some context and help.