JSON object diffs and reversible patching (jsondiffpatch compatible)
Install from jsondiffpatch.net nuget website, or run the following command:
Install-Package JsonDiffPatch.NetThe library has support for the following 3 operations: Diff, Patch and Unpatch.
Diff two json objects
var jdp = new JsonDiffPatch(); var left = JToken.Parse(@"{ ""key"": false }"); var right = JToken.Parse(@"{ ""key"": true }"); JToken patch = jdp.Diff(left, right); Console.WriteLine(patch.ToString()); // Output: // { // "key": [false, true] // }
Patch a left object with a patch document
var jdp = new JsonDiffPatch(); var left = JToken.Parse(@"{ ""key"": false }"); var right = JToken.Parse(@"{ ""key"": true }"); JToken patch = jdp.Diff(left, right); var output = jdp.Patch(left, patch); Console.WriteLine(output.ToString()); // Output: // { // "key": true // }
Unpatch a right object with a patch document
var jdp = new JsonDiffPatch(); var left = JToken.Parse(@"{ ""key"": false }"); var right = JToken.Parse(@"{ ""key"": true }"); JToken patch = jdp.Diff(left, right); var output = jdp.Unpatch(right, patch); Console.WriteLine(output.ToString()); // Output: // { // "key": false // }
JsonDiffPatch.Net is designed to handle complex diffs by producing a compact diff object with enough information to patch and unpatch relevant JSON objects. The following are some of the most common cases you may hit when generating a diff:
- Adding, Removing a property from an object
- Changing the property value or even value type
- Inserting and shifting elements in an array
- Efficient string diffing using google-diff-match-patch
- Nested object diffs
The full JSON patch document format is documented at https://github.com/benjamine/jsondiffpatch.
var left = { "id": 100, "revision": 5, "items": [ "car", "bus" ], "tagline": "I can't do it. This text is too long for me to handle! Please help me JsonDiffPatch!", "author": "wbish" } var right = { "id": 100, "revision": 6, "items": [ "bike", "bus", "car" ], "tagline": "I can do it. This text is not too long. Thanks JsonDiffPatch!", "author": { "first": "w", "last": "bish" } } var jdp = new JsonDiffPatch(); var output = jdp.Diff(left, right); // Output: { "revision": [ // Changed the value of a property 5, // Old value 6 // New value ], "items": { // Inserted and moved items in an array "0": [ "bike" ], "_t": "a", "_1": [ "", 1, 3 ] }, "tagline": [ // A long string diff using google-diff-match-patch "@@ -2,10 +2,8 @@\n can\n-'t\n do \n@@ -23,49 +23,28 @@\n is \n+not \n too long\n- for me to handle! Please help me\n+. Thanks\n Jso\n", 0, 2 ], "author": [ // Changed the type of the author property from string to object "wbish", { "first": "w", "last": "bish" } ] }
A diff result can be converted into JSON patches, according to the RFC 6902 spec.
var left = JObject.Parse("{ \"name\": \"Justin\" }"); var right = JObject.Parse("{ \"name\" : \"John\", \"age\": 34 }"); var patch = new JsonDiffPatch().Diff(left, right); var formatter = new JsonDeltaFormatter(); var operations = formatter.Format(patch); /* operations: [ { "op": "replace", "path": "/name", "value": "John" }, { "op": "add", "path": "/age", "value": 34 } ] */