how to write Custom JSon serializer in C#

Question

I am using Newtonsoft json serializer to convert json string into objects. I have json structure as below -

{
    "EmployeeRecords": {
        "12": {
            "title": "Mr",
            "Name": "John"
        },
        "35":{
            "title": "Mr",
            "Name": "Json"
        }
    }
}

I want this Json to be serilized into below class -

public class Employee
{
    public string EmployeeNumber { get; set; }
    public string title { get; set; }
    public string Name { get; set; }
}

public class EmployeeRecords
{
    public List<Employee> Employees { get; set; }
}

Here Employeenumber is 12 and 35.

Please guide me how can I write custom serilizer which will read the Employee number from parent node and include it in the child node's EmployeeNumber property.

try to use this solution: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/7895105/deserialize-json-with-c-sharp — matterai, Jan 16 '15 at 07:22
Are you required by business rules to create that JSON? It's valid but it's very non-standard. — Erik Philips, Jan 16 '15 at 07:23
Can you modify the JSON? Don't reinvent the wheel! Serialize JSON in a matching class, then convert this class in the one you want. — DrKoch, Jan 16 '15 at 07:25
Cannt modify JSON its provided by Business using some CQ5 tool — CHash11, Jan 16 '15 at 07:36

Ufuk Hacıoğulları · Accepted Answer · 2015-01-16T11:43:46.833

1

You can deserialize into a dictionary, then assign the EmployeeNumbers in a loop.

public class DataModel
{
    public Dictionary<string, Employee> EmployeeRecords { get; set; }
}

Assing the numbers after deserialization:

var records = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<DataModel>(json);

foreach (var item in records.EmployeeRecords)
{
    item.Value.EmployeeNumber = item.Key;
}

edited Jan 16 '15 at 11:43

answered Jan 16 '15 at 07:27

Ufuk Hacıoğulları

37,978
12
114
156

How to deserialize to dictionary first which will populate Employee object? – CHash11 Jan 16 '15 at 07:38
@CHash_Mike Change the property name in EmployeeRecords class. I have updated the answer. – Ufuk Hacıoğulları Jan 16 '15 at 07:46
Hi Ufuk, I tried this solution but it fails to serialize the json to dictionary. Am I missing something? I am wondering how would serializer know the json object has to be serialized to dictionary? – CHash11 Jan 16 '15 at 10:31
@CHash_Mike Objects are simply dictionaries in JavaScript. I have changed class name because you can't have property names with the same name. Can you try it again? – Ufuk Hacıoğulları Jan 16 '15 at 11:47
Thanks @Ufuk.. The solution is correct but looks like some issue with my class structure generated from Json, the collection is coming as null. – CHash11 Jan 16 '15 at 11:53
@CHash_Mike Could you solve the problem? I tested the code above and it works. – Ufuk Hacıoğulları Jan 16 '15 at 11:55
Its working now .. Thanks, i messed up with Class names. – CHash11 Jan 16 '15 at 12:39

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Jan 16 '15 at 07:35

You can easily do this with LINQ to JSON (JObject and friends). Here's a short but complete example:

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using Newtonsoft.Json.Linq;

public class Employee
{
    public string EmployeeNumber { get; set; }
    public string title { get; set; }
    public string Name { get; set; }

    public JProperty ToJProperty()
    {
        return new JProperty(EmployeeNumber,
            new JObject {
                { "title", title },
                { "Name", Name }
            });
    }
}

public class EmployeeRecords
{
    public List<Employee> Employees { get; set; }

    public JObject ToJObject()
    {
        var obj = new JObject();
        foreach (var employee in Employees)
        {
            obj.Add(employee.ToJProperty());
        }
        return new JObject {
            new JProperty("EmployeeRecords", obj)
        };
    }
}

class Test
{
    static void Main()
    {
        var records = new EmployeeRecords {
            Employees = new List<Employee> {
                new Employee {
                    EmployeeNumber = "12",
                    title = "Mr",
                    Name = "John"
                },
                new Employee {
                    EmployeeNumber = "35",
                    title = "Mr",
                    Name = "Json"
                },
            }
        };
        Console.WriteLine(records.ToJObject());
    }    
}

It may not be the simplest code (Ufuk's approach is great if you're happy to change your structuring), but it shows how customizable everything is.

how to write Custom JSon serializer in C#

2 Answers2