Using JSON as a datastore in C#
For some not too complex applications, JSON can be a very handy way to store data rather than say using a database. It also has the advantage of storing data of varying sizes. For instance Lists with varying numbers of items. I created a Saveable generic class below that you use as an ancestor class for that you wish to Save/Load an IList of whatever.
public class SaveAble<T>
{
private string _error = "";
string LastError()
{
return _error;
}
public IList<T>? Load(string filePath)
{
if (!File.Exists(filePath))
{
Log.Error("Missing file {filePath}");
_error = $"Missing file {filePath}";
return null;
}
var content = File.ReadAllText(filePath);
if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(content))
{
Log.Error("{filePath} file is empty");
_error=$"{filePath} file is empty";
return null;
}
return JsonSerializer.Deserialize<IList<T>>(content, new JsonSerializerOptions
{
PropertyNameCaseInsensitive = true
})!;
}
public bool Save(string filename,IList<T> collection)
{
var options = new JsonSerializerOptions
{
WriteIndented = true,
PropertyNameCaseInsensitive = true
};
try
{
var bytes = JsonSerializer.SerializeToUtf8Bytes(collection, options);
File.WriteAllBytes(filename, bytes);
return true;
}catch (Exception ex)
{
_error = $"Exception:{ex.Message}";
return false;
}
}
}
Just define your class MyClasses from SaveAble<MyClass>
where MyClass is the class you have a List of. Then you can do
MyClasses myclasses;
myclasses.Save("filename",List<MyClass>) and
List<MyClass> list = myclasses.Load("filename");
It is fast. On my PC (now six years old), it can load a 99,000 line JSON file in well under a second.
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