TL;DR Just parse JSON into a JToken, somehow try to match property names. Wherever there’s a match, you can remove the property from its parent object.
Use method RemoveFromLowestPossibleParent from nice JsonExtensions class from Brian Rogers stackoverflow answer
public static partial class JsonExtensions
{
public static TJToken RemoveFromLowestPossibleParent<TJToken>(this TJToken node) where TJToken : JToken
{
if (node == null)
return null;
JToken toRemove;
var property = node.Parent as JProperty;
if (property != null)
{
// Also detach the node from its immediate containing property -- Remove() does not do this even though it seems like it should
toRemove = property;
property.Value = null;
}
else
{
toRemove = node;
}
if (toRemove.Parent != null)
toRemove.Remove();
return node;
}
public static IEnumerable<TJToken> RemoveFromLowestPossibleParents<TJToken>(this IEnumerable<TJToken> nodes) where TJToken : JToken
{
var list = nodes.ToList();
foreach (var node in list)
node.RemoveFromLowestPossibleParent();
return list;
}
}
Using PropertyHelper<YourClass>.GetJsonName(c => c.Id) on property with JsonPropertyAttribute attribute will return you json field name for this property.
public static partial class JsonExtensions
{
public static string GetJsonName<TValue>(Expression<Func<T, TValue>> selector)
{
PropertyInfo propInfo = null;
Expression body = selector;
if (body is LambdaExpression)
{
body = ((LambdaExpression)body).Body;
}
switch (body.NodeType)
{
case ExpressionType.MemberAccess:
propInfo = (PropertyInfo)((MemberExpression)body).Member;
break;
default:
throw new InvalidOperationException();
}
if (propInfo != null)
{
var attribute = propInfo.GetCustomAttributes(typeof(JsonPropertyAttribute), true)
.Cast<JsonPropertyAttribute>()
.FirstOrDefault();
if (attribute != null)
{
return attribute.PropertyName;
}
}
return null;
}
}
Both methods will allows you to combine in one method and call like: CleanUpBeforeCompare(meta, m => m.Id)
public static partial class JsonExtensions
{
public static string CleanUpBeforeCompare<T, V>(IEnumerable<T> sourceMeta, params Expression<Func<T, V>>[] nodesToRemove)
{
var names = nodesToRemove
.Select(PropertyHelper<T>.GetJsonName)
.ToList();
var root = (JContainer)JToken.FromObject(sourceMeta);
var query = root
.DescendantsAndSelf()
.OfType<JProperty>()
.Where(v => v.Type == JTokenType.Property && names.Contains(v.Name));
query.RemoveFromLowestPossibleParents();
var json = root.ToString();
return json;
}
}