In.NET, how can I convert a C# object to a JSON string?

Problem

These are some of the classes I teach:

class MyDate
{
    int year, month, day;
}

class Lad
{
    string firstName;
    string lastName;
    MyDate dateOfBirth;
}

And I’d like to convert a Lad object to a JSON string that looks like this:

{
    "firstName":"Markoff",
    "lastName":"Chaney",
    "dateOfBirth":
    {
        "year":"1901",
        "month":"4",
        "day":"30"
    }
}

(Except for the formatting.) This link was located, but it uses a namespace that isn’t available in.NET 4. JSON.NET was also mentioned, but their website appears to be down right now, and I’m not a fan of using external DLL files.

Other than manually developing a JSON string writer, are there any other options?

Asked by Hui

Solution #1

We all enjoy one-liners, so

…this one relies on the Newtonsoft NuGet package, which is a popular and superior serializer to the default.

Newtonsoft.Json.JsonConvert.SerializeObject(new {foo = "bar"})

Serializing and Deserializing JSON (Documentation)

Answered by mschmoock

Solution #2

JavaScriptSerializer is not recommended by Microsoft.

See the documentation page’s header:

You might use the JavaScriptSerializer class (add System.Web.Extensions as a reference):

using System.Web.Script.Serialization;

var json = new JavaScriptSerializer().Serialize(obj);

A full example:

using System;
using System.Web.Script.Serialization;

public class MyDate
{
    public int year;
    public int month;
    public int day;
}

public class Lad
{
    public string firstName;
    public string lastName;
    public MyDate dateOfBirth;
}

class Program
{
    static void Main()
    {
        var obj = new Lad
        {
            firstName = "Markoff",
            lastName = "Chaney",
            dateOfBirth = new MyDate
            {
                year = 1901,
                month = 4,
                day = 30
            }
        };
        var json = new JavaScriptSerializer().Serialize(obj);
        Console.WriteLine(json);
    }
}

Answered by Darin Dimitrov

Solution #3

Use the Json.Net library, which may be found in Nuget Packet Manager.

Json String Serialization:

 var obj = new Lad
        {
            firstName = "Markoff",
            lastName = "Chaney",
            dateOfBirth = new MyDate
            {
                year = 1901,
                month = 4,
                day = 30
            }
        };

var jsonString = Newtonsoft.Json.JsonConvert.SerializeObject(obj);

Deserializing to Object:

var obj = Newtonsoft.Json.JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<Lad>(jsonString );

Answered by Gokulan P H

Solution #4

MSDN1 and MSDN2 both use the DataContractJsonSerializer class.

My example: HERE.

Unlike JavaScriptSerializer, it can securely deserialize objects from a JSON string. However, I continue to prefer Json.NET.

Answered by Edgar

Solution #5

In the System, a new JSON serializer is accessible. Namespace Text.Json It’s part of the.NET Core 3.0 common framework, and it’s also available as a NuGet package for projects using.NET Standard,.NET Framework, or.NET Core 2.x.

Example code:

using System;
using System.Text.Json;

public class MyDate
{
    public int year { get; set; }
    public int month { get; set; }
    public int day { get; set; }
}

public class Lad
{
    public string FirstName { get; set; }
    public string LastName { get; set; }
    public MyDate DateOfBirth { get; set; }
}

class Program
{
    static void Main()
    {
        var lad = new Lad
        {
            FirstName = "Markoff",
            LastName = "Chaney",
            DateOfBirth = new MyDate
            {
                year = 1901,
                month = 4,
                day = 30
            }
        };
        var json = JsonSerializer.Serialize(lad);
        Console.WriteLine(json);
    }
}

The classes to be serialized in this example have properties rather than fields; the System. Text. Currently, the Json serializer does not serialize fields.

Documentation:

Answered by tdykstra

Post is based on https://stackoverflow.com/questions/6201529/how-do-i-turn-a-c-sharp-object-into-a-json-string-in-net