Serialize .NET Dictionary<string, string> into JSON Key Value Pair Object
I need to get:
public class Package
{
public Package()
{
name = "";
type = new List<Dictionary<string, string>>();
}
public string name { get; set; }
public List<Dictionary<string, string>> type { get; set; }
}
into:
{
"name":"package_name",
"type":
{
"http://random.url.as.key":"random/value"
}
}
with:
Package package = new Package();
package.name = "package_name";
package.type.Add(new Dictionary<string, string>() { { "http://random.url.as.key", "random/value" } });
I get:
{
"name":"package_name",
"type":
[
[
{
"Key":"http:\/\/random.url.as.key",
"Value":"random\/value"
}
]
]
}
while, with:
var package = new
{
name = "package_name",
type = new
{
http_random_url_as_key = "random/value"
}
};
I get:
{
"name":"package_name",
"type":
{
"http_random_url_as_key":"random/value"
}
}
I can't get the obsure http://random.url.as.key that I need. I have tried using JavaScriptSerializer, DataContractJsonSerializer, and Custom Convertor for Json.NET, all with limited success/shortcomings.
There must be a better way/something I'm overlooking to get a simple JSON Object over the wire!
Well, first off, for the first example, what you basically have is a list of collections of KeyValuePair<string,string>
objects.
So, the reason that it gets converted to the JSON shown is this:
{
"name":"package_name",
"type":
[ // List<Dictionary<string,string>>
[ // Dictionary<string,string>, a list of KeyValuePair<string,string> objects
{ // KeyValuePair<string,string> object
"Key":"http:\/\/random.url.as.key",
"Value":"random\/value"
}
]
]
}
As far as your second example, you are creating a dynamic object, containing a dynamic object, and each of the object's fields are what are providing the key value.
So, I would suggest ditching the outer List<>
around the Dictionary<string,string>
, then make use of the Newtonsoft.Json.Converters.KeyValuePairConverter
object in the JSON.Net library when doing your serialization:
string json = JsonConvert.SerializeObject( package, new KeyValuePairConverter( ) );
Hope that helps.
EDIT
Okay, so I figured I should give a more concrete example
public class Package
{
public Package()
{
name = "";
type = new Dictionary<string, string>();
}
public string name { get; set; }
public Dictionary<string, string> type { get; set; }
}
Package package = new Package();
package.name = "package_name";
package.type.Add("http://random.url.as.key", "random/value");
string json = JsonConvert.SerializeObject( package, new KeyValuePairConverter( ) );
This will get you the output
{
"name":"package_name",
"type":
{
"http://random.url.as.key":"random/value"
}
}