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jsonserializationjson.netasp.net-web-api
BornToCode
BornToCode

Reputation: 10223

Web API - JSON serialize properties as array of strings

I have a class 

public class Person
    { 
      public string Name { get; set; }
      public string LastName { get; set; }
      public int Age { get; set; }
    }

I'd like to serialize it into:

{ "Person": "[John, Smith, 13]" }

instead of

{"Name":"John", "LastName":"Smith", "Age": 13}

Is it possible to achieve this without writing a custom serializer? If not, how do I apply a custom serializer only to a specific class?

Upvotes: 1

Views: 880

Answers (1)

Ilija Dimov
Ilija Dimov

Reputation: 5299

Since the json string you want to get when serializing an instance of Person is not the standard one, you'll need to write a custom converter and decorate your class with it. One way to do that is the following. Write class that inherits from JsonConverter:

public class CustomConverter : JsonConverter
{
    public override void WriteJson(JsonWriter writer, object value, JsonSerializer serializer)
    {
        if (value == null) return;

        writer.WriteStartObject();
        writer.WritePropertyName(value.GetType().Name);

        writer.WriteStartArray();

        var properties = value.GetType().GetProperties();

        foreach (var property in properties)
            writer.WriteValue(value.GetType().GetProperty(property.Name).GetValue(value));

        writer.WriteEndArray();
        writer.WriteEndObject();
    }

    public override object ReadJson(JsonReader reader, Type objectType, object existingValue, JsonSerializer serializer)
    {
        throw new NotImplementedException();
    }

    public override bool CanConvert(Type objectType)
    {
        return objectType == typeof (Person);
    }
}

Decorate your class with the JsonConverter attribute:

[JsonConverter(typeof(CustomConverter))]
public class Person
{
    public string Name { get; set; }
    public string LastName { get; set; }
    public int Age { get; set; }
}

Now lets say that you use the following code:

var person = new Person
{
    Name = "John",
    LastName = "Smith",
    Age = 13
};

var json = JsonConvert.SerializeObject(person, Formatting.Indented);

The json varible wil have this value:

{
    "Person": [
        "John",
        "Smith",
        13
    ]
}

Demo here

Upvotes: 4

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