using System;

using System.Collections.Generic;

using Newtonsoft.Json.Linq;

​

public class Program

{

    public static void Main()

    {

        string json = @"

            {

                ""Array3A"": [

                  { ""Item_3A1"": ""Desc_3A1"" },

                  { ""Item_3A2"": ""Desc_3A2"" },

                  { ""Item_3A3"": ""Desc_3A3"" }

                ],

                ""Array3B"": [

                  { ""Item_3B1"": ""Desc_3B1"" },

                  {

                    ""Array3B1"": [

                      { ""Item_1"": ""Desc_3B11"" },

                      { ""Item_2"": ""Desc_3B12"" },

                      { ""Item_3"": ""Desc_3B13"" }

                    ]

                  },

                  {

                    ""Array3B2"": [

                      { ""Item_1"": ""Desc_3B21"" },

                      { ""Item_2"": ""Desc_3B22"" },

                      { ""Item_3"": ""Desc_3B23"" }

                    ]

                  }

                ]

            }";

​

        var root = (JContainer)JToken.Parse(json);

​

        var t1 = root.SelectTokens("$.Array3A");

        var t2 = root.SelectTokens("$.Array3B.[*].*.[*].Item_1");

        var t3 = root.SelectTokens("$.Array3B.[*].Array3B1.[*].*");

        var t4 = root.SelectTokens("$.NonExistentNode");

​

        Console.WriteLine($"{MergedAncestry(t1).ToString()}"); // WORKS

        /* 

        Outputs: (correct)

        {

            "Array3A": [

            {

                "Item_3A1": "Desc_3A1"

            },

            {

                "Item_3A2": "Desc_3A2"

            },

            {

                "Item_3A3": "Desc_3A3"

            }

            ]

        }

         */

        Console.WriteLine("------------------------");

        Console.WriteLine($"{MergedAncestry(t2).ToString()}"); // WORKS

        /* 

        Outputs: (correct)

        {

            "Array3B": [

            {

                "Array3B1": [

                {

                    "Item_1": "Desc_3B11"

                }

                ]

            },

            {

                "Array3B2": [

                {

                    "Item_1": "Desc_3B21"

                }

                ]

            }

            ]

        }

         */

​

        Console.WriteLine("------------------------");

        Console.WriteLine($"{MergedAncestry(t3).ToString()}"); // DOESN'T WORK

        /* 

        Outputs: (WRONG! Array3B1 should be combined!)

        {

            "Array3B": [

            {

                "Array3B1": [

                {

                    "Item_1": "Desc_3B11"

                }

                ]

            },

            {

                "Array3B1": [

                {

                    "Item_2": "Desc_3B12"

                }

                ]

            },

            {

                "Array3B1": [

                {

                    "Item_3": "Desc_3B13"

                }

                ]

            }

            ]

        }

         */

​

        Console.WriteLine("------------------------");

        Console.WriteLine($"{MergedAncestry(t4).ToString()}"); // WORKS

    }

​

// Returns a single document merged using the full ancestry of each of the input tokens

static JToken MergedAncestry(IEnumerable<JToken> tokens)

{

    JObject merged = null;

    foreach(var token in tokens)

    {

        if (merged == null)

        {

            // First object

            merged = (JObject)GetFullAncestry(token);

        }

        else

        {

            // Subsequent objects merged

            merged.Merge((JObject)GetFullAncestry(token), new JsonMergeSettings

            {

                // union array values together to avoid duplicates

                MergeArrayHandling = MergeArrayHandling.Union

            });

        }

    }

    return merged ?? new JObject();

}

​

// Recursively builds a new tree to the node matching the ancestry of the original node

static JToken GetFullAncestry(JToken node, JToken tree = null)

{

    if (tree == null)

    {

        // First level: start by cloning the current node

        tree = node?.DeepClone();

    }

​

    if (node?.Parent == null)

    {

        // No parents left, return the tree we've built

        return tree;

    }

​

    // Rebuild the parent node in our tree based on the type of node

    JToken a;

    switch (node.Parent)

    {

        case JArray _:

            return GetFullAncestry(node.Parent, new JArray(tree));

        case JProperty _:

            return GetFullAncestry(node.Parent, new JProperty(((JProperty)node.Parent).Name, tree));

        case JObject _:

            return GetFullAncestry(node.Parent, new JObject(tree));

        default:

            return tree;

    }

}

}