CODEWITHSUNDEEP
c#json.net
Overflew
Overflew

Reputation: 8182

Json.Net - Serialize property name without quotes

I'm trying to get Json.Net to serialise a property name without quote marks, and finding it difficult to locate documentation on Google. How can I do this?

It's in a very small part of a large Json render, so I'd prefer to either add a property attribute, or override the serialising method on the class.

Currently, the it renders like this:

"event_modal":
{
    "href":"file.html",
    "type":"full"
}

And I'm hoping to get it to render like: (href and type are without quotes)

"event_modal":
{
    href:"file.html",
    type:"full"
}

From the class:

public class ModalOptions
{
    public object href { get; set; }
    public object type { get; set; }
}

Upvotes: 44

Views: 50167

Answers (2)

BrokeSoftwareEngineer
BrokeSoftwareEngineer

Reputation: 79

You can also try a regex replace, with a substitution, which could handle any serialized object, and replace the quotes for you.

For Example:

var options = new ModalOptions { href = "file.html", type = "full" };
string jsonText = JsonConvert.SerializeObject(options);
string regexPattern = "\"([^\"]+)\":"; // the "propertyName": pattern
Console.WriteLine(Regex.Replace(jsonText, regexPattern, "$1:"));

This would produce:

{href:"file.html",type:"full"}

I built a working web example here. Explanation of regex substitutions are here.

Upvotes: 7

Christophe Geers
Christophe Geers

Reputation: 8962

It's possible, but I advise against it as it would produce invalid JSON as Marcelo and Marc have pointed out in their comments.

Using the Json.NET library you can achieve this as follows:

[JsonObject(MemberSerialization.OptIn)]
public class ModalOptions
{
    [JsonProperty]
    public object href { get; set; }

    [JsonProperty]
    public object type { get; set; }
}

When serializing the object use the JsonSerializer type instead of the static JsonConvert type.

For example:

var options = new ModalOptions { href = "file.html", type = "full" };
var serializer = new JsonSerializer();
var stringWriter = new StringWriter();
using (var writer = new JsonTextWriter(stringWriter))
{
    writer.QuoteName = false;
    serializer.Serialize(writer, options);            
}
var json = stringWriter.ToString();

This will produce:

{href:"file.html",type:"full"}

If you set the QuoteName property of the JsonTextWriter instance to false the object names will no longer be quoted.

Upvotes: 56

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