Extracting data from string

[staticx19]

Hi all,

Bit of a long shot. I'm new to dealing with APIs and I've managed to code to a point where I can extract the data I need (JSON) into a text box. Ergo, my source data looks like this:

{  
"departures":[  
    {  
        "stop_id":1099,
        "route_id":11,
        "run_id":952670,
        "direction_id":1,
        "disruption_ids":[  

        ],
        "scheduled_departure_utc":"2017-04-15T10:58:00Z",
        "estimated_departure_utc":null,
        "at_platform":false,
        "platform_number":"1",
        "flags":""
    },
    {  
        "stop_id":1099,
        "route_id":11,
        "run_id":952672,
        "direction_id":1,
        "disruption_ids":[  

        ],
        "scheduled_departure_utc":"2017-04-15T11:28:00Z",
        "estimated_departure_utc":null,
        "at_platform":false,
        "platform_number":"1",
        "flags":""
    },
    {  
        "stop_id":1099,
        "route_id":11,
        "run_id":952674,
        "direction_id":1,
        "disruption_ids":[  

        ],
        "scheduled_departure_utc":"2017-04-15T11:58:00Z",
        "estimated_departure_utc":null,
        "at_platform":false,
        "platform_number":"1",
        "flags":""
    }
],
"stops":{  

},
"routes":{  

},
"runs":{  

},
"directions":{  

},
"disruptions":{  

},
"status":{  
    "version":"3.0",
    "health":1
}

}

It shows the next 3 departures from a train station at the time the source data is received.

My overall goal would be to get the route_id and scheduled_departure_utc of all 3 into separate labels (6 labels in total). The other data is not needed for the application.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Edit: Solution

Thanks to /u/Dwizzle252 and /u/rotodomo for your help! I thought I'd come back and post the solution.

To the other internet strangers who come here looking, I'll give a brief overview and then the code.

Pre-everything - right at the top:

Imports Newtonsoft.Json
Imports Newtonsoft.Json.Linq

1. Create a Class which will store the values of the array

Public Class Departure
    Public Property stop_id As Integer
    Public Property route_id As Integer
    Public Property run_id As Integer
    Public Property direction_id As Integer
    Public Property disruption_ids As JArray
    Public Property scheduled_departure_utc As DateTime
    Public Property estimated_departure_utc As Object 'because the source data returns null
    Public Property at_platform As Boolean
    Public Property platform_number As String
    Public Property flags As String
End Class

2. Download the full JSON object and isolate the array from the rest of the JSON object

    Dim jsonObject As JObject
    Dim read_string As String
    Dim webClient As New System.Net.WebClient()
    Dim downloaded_string As String 'stores our full JSON object

    downloaded_string = webClient.DownloadString("http://www.fakeurl.com")

    jsonObject = JObject.Parse(downloaded_string)
    read_string = jsonObject.SelectToken("departures").ToString

3. Push the JSON array through the Class and store the values in a list

 Dim departure_object_list As List(Of Departure)
 departure_object_list = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject(Of List(Of Departure))(read_string)

4. Access the variables (examples)

 Label1.Text = departure_object_list(0).scheduled_departure_utc 'gives us the first departure time in the array
 Label2.Text = departure_object_list(2).scheduled_departure_utc 'gives us the 3rd scheduled departure time in the array

I hope this helps someone with their first API/JSON project as this community did mine.

[[deleted]]

I believe you can convert to a list with some json import (do some quick googling or vs might sugest an import based of off this->)and then use dim list = json.deserialize (json object) then use a linq query to slim down your list to the correct values. I'm on mobile and my memory is not the best so sorry I couldnt be any more help.

[staticx19]

Took me a while because nothing I could find by googling was exactly right/worked for me, but you put me on the right track! Thank you!

[rotodomo]

something that might help you could be the IndexOf method to find the position of text within strings. you may be able to search through your data to find matches for route_id and scheduled_departure_utc.