Converting C# List into JSON specific format

Question

I have a graph in my view which looks like this:

  var hourlyGraph = Morris.Bar({
            element: 'graph_bar',
            data: [
               @foreach (var item in ViewBag.HourlyGraph)
               {
                @:{device: '@item.Hour.ToString("D2"):00', geekbench:@item.Sales },
               }
            ],
            xkey: 'device',
            ykeys: ['geekbench'],
            labels: ['Sold'],
            barRatio: 0.4,
            barColors: ['#0A4D70', '#34495E', '#ACADAC', '#3498DB'],
            xLabelAngle: 35,
            hideHover: 'auto',
            resize: true
      });

This is a morris chart. Note how the data is set up here:

[
@foreach (var item in ViewBag.HourlyGraph)
{
@:{device: '@item.Hour.ToString("D2"):00', geekbench:@item.Sales },
}
]

And now I need to fill the chart with new data. In my Action I have created a list which contains 2 properties:

public int Hour {get;set;}
public int Sales {get;set;}

And they are stored into a list typed of:

var HourlyGraph = new List<HourlyGraph>();

Now I'd like to convert this list into a JSON format which would look something like this:

[
{device: '0', geekbench:5 },
{device: '1', geekbench:13 },
{device: '2', geekbench:25 },
{device: '3', geekbench:14 },
{device: '4', geekbench:16 },
]

Where value for device would be = hour, and geekbench = sales ...

How could I do this in C#?

Something like this would work ? new JavaScriptSerializer().Deserialize(yourList); — Joab Santos, Mar 14 '17 at 14:11
Did you have a look at the Newtonsoft.JSON library? You will find it on nuget — Tom Doodler, Mar 14 '17 at 14:11
@TomDoodler yes but what confuses me here is how do I set the first string in json to be named like "device" and "geekbench" ? — User987, Mar 14 '17 at 14:12
@joab what about "device" and "geekbench" values, how do I place them in JSON response ? — User987, Mar 14 '17 at 14:13
Somethin like this would work ? [JsonProperty(PropertyName = "device")] public int Hour {get;set;} — Joab Santos, Mar 14 '17 at 14:15
You can project to an anonymous object with the property names you want, e.g. `HourlyGraph.Select(hg => new { device = hg.Hour.ToString(), geekbench = hg.Sales });` — stuartd, Mar 14 '17 at 14:16
@joab done , but for the first part of code it says cannot convert type HourlyGraph into string ? — User987, Mar 14 '17 at 14:17
Using the Newtonsoft.JSON , look at this http://stackoverflow.com/questions/35654350/converting-list-of-objects-to-json-array — Joab Santos, Mar 14 '17 at 14:19

Ofir Winegarten · Answer 1 · 2017-03-14T14:25:44.460

2

With Json.Net and Linq it's easy:

string myJson = 
   JsonConvert.SerializeObject(mylist.Select(item=>
                                  new {device=item.Hour, geekbench=item.Sales}));

You project an anonymous type with the fields and names that you'd like, and let Newtonsoft.Json do the rest.

edited Mar 14 '17 at 14:25

answered Mar 14 '17 at 14:19

Ofir Winegarten

9,215
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Ofir, this is NewtonSoft.JSON library , no ? It says it doesn't contains method "Serialize" ... ? – User987 Mar 14 '17 at 14:21
1

it's SerializeObject sorry – Ofir Winegarten Mar 14 '17 at 14:22
Ofir, another quick question, says i.Sales doens't exists ... ? Should it be item.Sales or ? – User987 Mar 14 '17 at 14:24
ohhh me and my typos... sure it's item – Ofir Winegarten Mar 14 '17 at 14:25
haha happens , thx a lot =D .. Btw. return type of this action should be string or JsonResponse? Or just a simple string ? – User987 Mar 14 '17 at 14:26
Ofir , oh my goodness I'm missing just one small thing.. The response is returned like this: [{"device":"16","geekbench":1}] ... Device is under two quote marks but it shouldn't be... it should be just like this: [{device:"16","geekbench":1}] – User987 Mar 14 '17 at 14:31
Well, i'm no expert on MVC. this one will just be a string, but if you need a JsonResponse i guess you need to add the header: return this.Content(jsonString, "application/json"); also maybe the answer from Usman mixing with the Linq projection would give you the best resutls – Ofir Winegarten Mar 14 '17 at 14:34
Why shouldn't it be with quotes? that's a correct json syntax – Ofir Winegarten Mar 14 '17 at 14:35
Ofir, for some reason this graph doesn't uses quotes for the property... Not sure why =/ – User987 Mar 14 '17 at 14:37

Usman · Answer 2 · 2017-03-14T15:15:16.913

1

since you are using mvc why not use return Json() it will convert the object to json string you can use it like

  public ActionResult Myaction()
    { 
        var HourlyGraph = new List<HourlyGraph>();


        return Json(HourlyGraph.Select(x => new {Hour=x.Hour,Sales=x.Sales }));
    }

edited Mar 14 '17 at 15:15

answered Mar 14 '17 at 14:25

Usman

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Usman this looks too good to be true haha... Hold on I'll try =D – User987 Mar 14 '17 at 14:27

vibs2006 · Answer 3 · 2017-03-14T15:58:52.613

You can achieve the desired output by using LINQ Anonymous Type

As per example following is class

public class HourlyGraph
{
    public int Hour { get; set; }
    public int Sales { get; set; }
}

Import Namespace System.Web.Script.Serialization which is a Microsoft's Inbuilt Class for dealing with JSON. You will need to refer additional assembly named System.Web.Extensions using 'Add References'.

using System.Web.Script.Serialization;

Declare List and Convert into customized JSON Format

        var listHourlyGraph = new List<HourlyGraph>();

        //Adding some Sample Values
        listHourlyGraph.Add(new HourlyGraph() { Hour = 0, Sales = 5 });
        listHourlyGraph.Add(new HourlyGraph() { Hour = 1, Sales = 10 });

        //Declaring JavaScriptSerialzer Object
        var serialzer = new JavaScriptSerializer();

        //Using Serialize Method which returns back a JSON String
        //We are using LINQ SELECT Method to create a new anonymous return type which contains our custom return types
        string s = serialzer.Serialize(listHourlyGraph.Select(x => new { device = x.Hour, geekbench = x.Sales } ));

You will get the following output in 's' variable

[{"device":0,"geekbench":5},{"device":1,"geekbench":10}]

Note: If you want to get performance optimizations then you are better using Newtonsoft JSON Library instead of Microsoft's Default JSON Library.

Also to add if you want the JSON values as string rather than integer then use C#'s ToString() method in anoumous type. e.g string s = serialzer.Serialize(listHourlyGraph.Select(x => new { device = x.Hour.ToString(), geekbench = x.Sales.ToString() } )); — vibs2006, Mar 14 '17 at 16:02

Converting C# List into JSON specific format

3 Answers3