CODEWITHSUNDEEP
c#asp.net.netjson
Daniel A. White
Daniel A. White

Reputation: 190907

JavaScriptSerializer deserialize to .NET string[] from JavaScript string or array

Is there a way with the JavaScriptSerializer (I don't want to use another library at this time) where I can do something like this?

class Model 
{
    string[] Values { get; set; }
}

// using the serializer

JavaScriptSerializer serializer = new JavaScriptSerializer();

// this works
Model workingModel = serializer.Deserialize<Model>("{ Values : ['1234', '2346'] }");

// this works
Model wontWorkModel = serializer.Deserialize<Model>("{ Values : 'test' }");

I want wontWorkModel.Values to be an array with 1 item - test.

Is this possible with the JSON I've specified?

Edit

I was able to hack this in using a TypeConverter and inserting it into the type of string[], but it seems very hackish (and scary that I can do that in .NET).

Upvotes: 0

Views: 2360

Answers (2)

Icarus
Icarus

Reputation: 63956

One option would be to create a JavascriptConverter as so:

public class ModelConverter   : JavaScriptConverter
    {
        public override object Deserialize(IDictionary<string, object> dictionary, Type type, JavaScriptSerializer serializer)
        {
            if (dictionary == null)
                throw new ArgumentNullException("dictionary");

            if (type == typeof(Model))
            {
                Model result = new Model();
                foreach (var item in dictionary.Keys)
                {
                    if (dictionary[item] is string && item == "Values")
                        result.Values = new string[] { (string)dictionary[item] };
                    else if(item=="Values")
                        result.Values = (string[])((ArrayList)dictionary[item]).ToArray(typeof(string));

                }
                return result;
            }
            return null;
        }

        public override IDictionary<string, object> Serialize(object obj, JavaScriptSerializer serializer)
        {
            throw new NotImplementedException();
        }

        public override IEnumerable<Type> SupportedTypes
        {
            get { return new ReadOnlyCollection<Type>(new List<Type>(new Type[] { typeof(Model) })); }
        }
    }

You can call it like this:

JavaScriptSerializer serializer = new JavaScriptSerializer();

ModelConverter sc = new ModelConverter();
serializer.RegisterConverters(new JavaScriptConverter[] { new ModelConverter() });


Model workingModel = serializer.Deserialize<Model>("{ Values : '2346' }");
Model workingModel1 = serializer.Deserialize<Model>("{ Values : ['2346'] }");
Model workingModel2 = serializer.Deserialize<Model>("{ Values : ['2346','3123'] }");

Here's the MSDN documentation for JavascriptConverter

Upvotes: 1

Raphael Isidro
Raphael Isidro

Reputation: 932

Why not simply use

Model wontWorkModel = serializer.Deserialize<Model>("{ Values : ['test'] }");

Upvotes: 0

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