RestSharp/Json.NET Serialize Array as JSON Object

Question

I have a slight situation. I'm interacting with a web service using RestSharp, where the service is requiring me to send the following as part of the request:

{
    "a":"a value",
    "b":"b value"
}

Which is all fine and dandy, because you could simply use a class such as this:

public class MyClass
{
    public string A { get; set; }
    public string B { get; set; }
}

However, I do not know know the property names at runtime. Therefore, I attempted to use an ExpandoObject, but of course, this simply serialized as a JSON array:

[
    "a":"a value",
    "b":"b value"
]

So, it would seem that I need to be able to serialize (and deserialize) a Dictionary (or IEnumerable<KeyValuePair<string, string>>) as a JSON object (in other words, use curly braces instead of a brackets).

Does anyone know how I might do this, preferably by using a Json.NET attribute, such that the functionality may be reused elsewhere?

this was asked here http://stackoverflow.com/questions/3739094/serializing-deserializing-dictionary-of-objects-with-json-net — Anthony Johnston, Apr 17 '12 at 22:15
That posters question was about the details of how to serialize a dictionary of complex objects into a Json array of Json objects. My question is about how to serialize a dictionary of simple key value pairs into a single Json object: where each key is a property name, and each value is a property value. — cwharris, Apr 17 '12 at 22:19

Anthony Johnston · Accepted Answer · 2013-04-23T15:55:17.250

3

how about using a JObject?

var obj = new JObject();

obj["One"] = "Value One";
obj["Two"] = "Value Two";
obj["Three"] = "Value Three";

var serialized = obj.ToString(Formatting.None);

gives you

{"One":"Value One","Two":"Value Two","Three":"Value Three"}

edited Apr 23 '13 at 15:55

answered Apr 17 '12 at 22:29

Anthony Johnston

9,405
4
46
57

It's always the simple things that get you, right? Am I the only one? I'll test this and get back to you... :) – cwharris Apr 17 '12 at 22:33
This worked exactly as I needed it to. Since I wanted to keep my serialization code separate from my domain, I simply looped over the key value pairs I wanted to serialize as an object, and assigned each value to the corresponding JObject's index. – cwharris Apr 18 '12 at 06:01
While this wasn't the `Attribute` solution I was looking for, one could probably adapt some solution from this, using a custom converter. – cwharris Apr 18 '12 at 06:02
Agreed with @ChristopherHarris, I can't deserialize using this (or `ExpandoObject`) -- I just get empty objects back – ashes999 Apr 22 '13 at 14:52
try JObject.ToString(), you can specify your formatting and converters here too – Anthony Johnston Apr 23 '13 at 15:53

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Apr 17 '12 at 22:35

0

Use JavascripSerializer object from .net class libs. It supports reflection on the object it is serializing

see msdn docs

answered Apr 17 '12 at 22:35

Paul Sullivan

2,865
2
19
25

RestSharp/Json.NET Serialize Array as JSON Object

2 Answers2