SerializingJSON.md

Serializing and Deserializing JSON

The quickest method of converting between JSON text and a .NET object is using the Argon.JsonSerializer. The JsonSerializer converts .NET objects into their JSON equivalent and back again by mapping the .NET object property names to the JSON property names and copies the values for you.

JsonConvert

For simple scenarios where you want to convert to and from a JSON string, the Argon.JsonConvert.SerializeObject and Argon.JsonConvert.DeserializeObject methods on JsonConvert provide an easy-to-use wrapper over JsonSerializer.

var product = new Product
{
    Name = "Apple",
    ExpiryDate = new(2008, 12, 28),
    Price = 3.99M,
    Sizes = ["Small", "Medium", "Large"]
};

var output = JsonConvert.SerializeObject(product);
//{
//  "Name": "Apple",
//  "ExpiryDate": "2008-12-28T00:00:00",
//  "Price": 3.99,
//  "Sizes": [
//    "Small",
//    "Medium",
//    "Large"
//  ]
//}

var deserializedProduct = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<Product>(output);

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SerializeObject and DeserializeObject both have overloads that take a Argon.JsonSerializerSettings object. JsonSerializerSettings lets you use many of the JsonSerializer settings listed below while still using the simple serialization methods.

JsonSerializer

For more control over how an object is serialized, the Argon.JsonSerializer can be used directly.

The JsonSerializer is able to read and write JSON text directly to a stream via Argon.JsonTextReader and Argon.JsonTextWriter. Other kinds of JsonWriters can also be used, such as Argon.JTokenReader/Argon.JTokenWriter, to convert your object to and from LINQ to JSON objects.

var product = new Product
{
    ExpiryDate = new(2008, 12, 28)
};

var serializer = new JsonSerializer
{
    NullValueHandling = NullValueHandling.Ignore
};

using var streamWriter = new StreamWriter(@"c:\json.txt");
using JsonWriter writer = new JsonTextWriter(streamWriter);
serializer.Serialize(writer, product);
// {"ExpiryDate":new Date(1230375600000),"Price":0}

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JsonSerializer has a number of properties on it to customize how it serializes JSON. These can also be used with the methods on JsonConvert via the JsonSerializerSettings overloads.

See also: [SerializationSettings]

Related Topics

• SerializationGuide
• SerializationSettings
• SerializationAttributes
• SerializingJSONFragments
• Argon.JsonConvert
• Argon.JsonSerializer
• Argon.JsonSerializerSettings