CODEWITHSUNDEEP
c#javascriptjsonjson.net
Jeff Mitchell
Jeff Mitchell

Reputation: 1479

Serialize Dictionary<int,object> using JSON.net?

I'm trying to use JSON.net to serialize a Dictionary.

Using 

JsonConvert.SerializeObject(theDict);

Here is my result

{
  "1": {
    "Blah1": false,
    "Blah2": false,
    "Blah3": "None",
    "Blah4": false
  },
  "2": {
    "Blah1": false,
    "Blah2": false,
    "Blah3": "None",
    "Blah4": false
  },
  "3": {
    "Blah1": false,
    "Blah2": false,
    "Blah3": "None",
    "Blah4": false
  },
  ...
  ...
  ...
}

Is there a way to serialize this dictionary such that the keys are rendered as valid javascript variables?

I am also open to other strategies of serializing the dictionary.

Upvotes: 8

Views: 11624

Answers (1)

user166390
user166390

Reputation:

That is the correct way to generate the JSON for Dictionary<int,...>. The reason is that JSON requires that all keys are quoted-string literals.

JS is a little more relaxed in this regard: but JSON is a restricted form of JS object literals. In any case, all property names in JavaScript are strings. (They are implicitly converted as needed.) Thus, ({1: 2})["1"]) and ({"1": 2})[1]) are as equally valid in JS (and both evaluate to 2), but only {"1": 2} is valid JSON.

If the target Type to deserialize back into is Dictionary<int,...> then it will automatically take care of the conversions in the keys to int, IIRC.

I am not aware of a way to get JSON.NET to generate non-JSON directly ;-) It could be done with looping the top-level construct, e.g. each KeyValuePair<int,...> and generating the JSON for each individual entry along with the "modified" JS code:

foreach (var p in dict) {
    var k = p.Key;
    var v = p.Value;
    Emit(string.Format(
        "var name{0} = {1};",
        k, JsonConvert.SerializeObject(v)));
}

Where Emit is whatever is used to collect the output... I would recommend "just normal JSON" if at all possible, though.

Happy coding.

Upvotes: 20

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