How to convert JSON data into a Python object?

Solution 1:

UPDATE

With Python3, you can do it in one line, using SimpleNamespace and object_hook:

import json
from types import SimpleNamespace

data = '{"name": "John Smith", "hometown": {"name": "New York", "id": 123}}'

# Parse JSON into an object with attributes corresponding to dict keys.
x = json.loads(data, object_hook=lambda d: SimpleNamespace(**d))
print(x.name, x.hometown.name, x.hometown.id)

OLD ANSWER (Python2)

In Python2, you can do it in one line, using namedtuple and object_hook (but it's very slow with many nested objects):

import json
from collections import namedtuple

data = '{"name": "John Smith", "hometown": {"name": "New York", "id": 123}}'

# Parse JSON into an object with attributes corresponding to dict keys.
x = json.loads(data, object_hook=lambda d: namedtuple('X', d.keys())(*d.values()))
print x.name, x.hometown.name, x.hometown.id

or, to reuse this easily:

def _json_object_hook(d): return namedtuple('X', d.keys())(*d.values())
def json2obj(data): return json.loads(data, object_hook=_json_object_hook)

x = json2obj(data)

If you want it to handle keys that aren't good attribute names, check out namedtuple's rename parameter.

Solution 2:

Check out the section titled Specializing JSON object decoding in the json module documentation. You can use that to decode a JSON object into a specific Python type.

Here's an example:

class User(object):
    def __init__(self, name, username):
        self.name = name
        self.username = username

import json
def object_decoder(obj):
    if '__type__' in obj and obj['__type__'] == 'User':
        return User(obj['name'], obj['username'])
    return obj

json.loads('{"__type__": "User", "name": "John Smith", "username": "jsmith"}',
           object_hook=object_decoder)

print type(User)  # -> <type 'type'>

Update

If you want to access data in a dictionary via the json module do this:

user = json.loads('{"__type__": "User", "name": "John Smith", "username": "jsmith"}')
print user['name']
print user['username']

Just like a regular dictionary.

Solution 3:

You could try this:

class User(object):
    def __init__(self, name, username):
        self.name = name
        self.username = username

import json
j = json.loads(your_json)
u = User(**j)

Just create a new object, and pass the parameters as a map.

Note: It does not work for nested classes.

You can have a JSON with objects too:

import json
class Address(object):
    def __init__(self, street, number):
        self.street = street
        self.number = number

    def __str__(self):
        return "{0} {1}".format(self.street, self.number)

class User(object):
    def __init__(self, name, address):
        self.name = name
        self.address = Address(**address)

    def __str__(self):
        return "{0} ,{1}".format(self.name, self.address)

if __name__ == '__main__':
    js = '''{"name":"Cristian", "address":{"street":"Sesame","number":122}}'''
    j = json.loads(js)
    print(j)
    u = User(**j)
    print(u)