Display of Newtonsoft.Json.Linq.JObject throws TargetInvocationException exception

[IvanAntipov]

The bug

Display of Newtonsoft.Json.Linq.JObject throws TargetInvocationException exception

I am trying to execute the following

#r "nuget: Newtonsoft.Json"

Newtonsoft.Json.Linq.JToken.Parse("{a:1}")

And I get

Error: System.Reflection.TargetInvocationException: Exception has been thrown by the target of an invocation.
---> System.NotImplementedException: The method or operation is not implemented.
at Newtonsoft.Json.Linq.JObject.System.Collections.Generic.IDictionary<System.String,Newtonsoft.Json.Linq.JToken>.get_Values()
at InvokeStub_IDictionary`2.get_Values(Object, Object, IntPtr*)
at System.Reflection.MethodInvoker.Invoke(Object obj, IntPtr* args, BindingFlags invokeAttr)
--- End of inner exception stack trace ---
at System.Reflection.MethodInvoker.Invoke(Object obj, IntPtr* args, BindingFlags invokeAttr)
at System.Reflection.RuntimeMethodInfo.Invoke(Object obj, BindingFlags invokeAttr, Binder binder, Object[] parameters, CultureInfo culture)
at System.Reflection.RuntimePropertyInfo.GetValue(Object obj, Object[] index)
at Microsoft.DotNet.Interactive.Formatting.TypeExtensions.<>c__DisplayClass14_0.<IsDictionary>b__3(Object instance) in D:\a\_work\1\s\src\Microsoft.DotNet.Interactive.Formatting\TypeExtensions.cs:line 276
at Microsoft.DotNet.Interactive.Formatting.HtmlFormatter`1.<>c__DisplayClass7_0.<CreateTableFormatterForAnyEnumerable>b__2(T instance) in D:\a\_work\1\s\src\Microsoft.DotNet.Interactive.Formatting\HtmlFormatter{T}.cs:line 71
at Microsoft.DotNet.Interactive.Formatting.HtmlFormatter`1.<>c__DisplayClass7_0.<CreateTableFormatterForAnyEnumerable>g__BuildTable|4(T source, FormatContext context, Boolean summarize) in D:\a\_work\1\s\src\Microsoft.DotNet.Interactive.Formatting\HtmlFormatter{T}.cs:line 99
at Microsoft.DotNet.Interactive.Formatting.HtmlFormatter`1.<>c__DisplayClass7_0.<CreateTableFormatterForAnyEnumerable>b__3(T value, FormatContext context) in D:\a\_work\1\s\src\Microsoft.DotNet.Interactive.Formatting\HtmlFormatter{T}.cs:line 83
at Microsoft.DotNet.Interactive.Formatting.HtmlFormatter`1.Format(T value, FormatContext context) in D:\a\_work\1\s\src\Microsoft.DotNet.Interactive.Formatting\HtmlFormatter{T}.cs:line 53
at Microsoft.DotNet.Interactive.Formatting.HtmlFormatter.<>c.<.cctor>b__0_12(IEnumerable value, FormatContext context) in D:\a\_work\1\s\src\Microsoft.DotNet.Interactive.Formatting\HtmlFormatter.cs:line 198
at Microsoft.DotNet.Interactive.Formatting.HtmlFormatter`1.Format(T value, FormatContext context) in D:\a\_work\1\s\src\Microsoft.DotNet.Interactive.Formatting\HtmlFormatter{T}.cs:line 53
at Microsoft.DotNet.Interactive.Formatting.Formatter.<>c__DisplayClass53_0.<TryInferPreferredFormatter>b__4(Object value, FormatContext context) in D:\a\_work\1\s\src\Microsoft.DotNet.Interactive.Formatting\Formatter.cs:line 702
at Microsoft.DotNet.Interactive.Formatting.AnonymousTypeFormatter`1.Format(T instance, FormatContext context) in D:\a\_work\1\s\src\Microsoft.DotNet.Interactive.Formatting\AnonymousTypeFormatter{T}.cs:line 30
at Microsoft.DotNet.Interactive.Formatting.Formatter`1.FormatTo(T obj, FormatContext context, String mimeType) in D:\a\_work\1\s\src\Microsoft.DotNet.Interactive.Formatting\Formatter{T}.cs:line 79
at Microsoft.DotNet.Interactive.Formatting.Formatter.FormatTo[T](T obj, FormatContext context, String mimeType) in D:\a\_work\1\s\src\Microsoft.DotNet.Interactive.Formatting\Formatter.cs:line 308
at Microsoft.DotNet.Interactive.Formatting.Formatter.ToDisplayString(Object obj, String mimeType) in D:\a\_work\1\s\src\Microsoft.DotNet.Interactive.Formatting\Formatter.cs:line 265
at Microsoft.DotNet.Interactive.FormattedValue.<>c__DisplayClass7_0.<FromObject>b__0(String mimeType) in D:\a\_work\1\s\src\Microsoft.DotNet.Interactive\FormattedValue.cs:line 37
at System.Linq.Enumerable.SelectArrayIterator`2.ToArray()
at Microsoft.DotNet.Interactive.FormattedValue.FromObject(Object value, String[] mimeTypes) in D:\a\_work\1\s\src\Microsoft.DotNet.Interactive\FormattedValue.cs:line 36
at Microsoft.DotNet.Interactive.CSharp.CSharpKernel.Microsoft.DotNet.Interactive.IKernelCommandHandler<Microsoft.DotNet.Interactive.Commands.SubmitCode>.HandleAsync(SubmitCode submitCode, KernelInvocationContext context) in D:\a\_work\1\s\src\Microsoft.DotNet.Interactive.CSharp\CSharpKernel.cs:line 351
at Microsoft.DotNet.Interactive.Kernel.HandleAsync(KernelCommand command, KernelInvocationContext context) in D:\a\_work\1\s\src\Microsoft.DotNet.Interactive\Kernel.cs:line 326
at Microsoft.DotNet.Interactive.KernelCommandPipeline.<BuildPipeline>b__6_0(KernelCommand command, KernelInvocationContext context, KernelPipelineContinuation _) in D:\a\_work\1\s\src\Microsoft.DotNet.Interactive\KernelCommandPipeline.cs:line 60
at Microsoft.DotNet.Interactive.KernelCommandPipeline.SendAsync(KernelCommand command, KernelInvocationContext context) in D:\a\_work\1\s\src\Microsoft.DotNet.Interactive\KernelCommandPipeline.cs:line 51

Despite the success of System.Text.Json Newtonsoft is still popular, and it is very common to deal with Newtonsoft objects in interactive.

Workaround

For a moment I use the following workaround

using System.Text;
using System.IO;
using Microsoft.DotNet.Interactive.Formatting;
using Newtonsoft.Json.Linq;
var systemTextFormatter = Microsoft.DotNet.Interactive.Formatting.Formatter.GetPreferredFormatterFor(typeof(System.Text.Json.JsonDocument), "text/html");
Formatter.Register<JObject>(
    t => {
        var systemTextObject = System.Text.Json.JsonDocument.Parse(t.ToString());
        var sw = new StringWriter();
        systemTextFormatter.Format(systemTextObject, sw);
        return sw.ToString();
    }, 
    mimeType: "text/html");
Microsoft.DotNet.Interactive.Formatting.Formatter.SetPreferredMimeTypesFor(typeof(Newtonsoft.Json.Linq.JObject), "text/html");

It works, but I believe that Newtonsoft should be supported out of the box. (Also it took some time for me to come to this solution, I guess other folks also could have some trouble with this)

Please complete the following:

Which version of .NET Interactive are you using? (In a notebook, run the #!about magic command. ):
.NET Interactive

© 2020 Microsoft Corporation

Version: 1.0.416502+d1b731772b784b6bb4257dc8d8496d1ab938e534

Library version: 1.0.0-beta.23165.2+d1b731772b784b6bb4257dc8d8496d1ab938e534

Build date: 2023-03-19T08:25:03.2539902Z

https://github.com/dotnet/interactive

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Screenshots

[colombod]

I think the workaround should become a formatter to the Newtonsoft types, having an extension to handle that could be useful