Tips for renaming property names during JSON serialization in asp.Net

Question

Tips for renaming property names during JSON serialization in asp.Net

In my MVC Web API Controller, there is a method that I have exposed:

    [HttpPost]
    public JsonResult<CustomClass> Details(RequestClass request)
    {
        var encoding = Encoding.GetEncoding("iso-8859-1");
        var settings = new Newtonsoft.Json.JsonSerializerSettings();
        return Json(_InputService.CustomClassGet(request.Id), settings, encoding);
    }

CustomClass is a complex class with multiple levels of objects from different classes. These objects are constructed in another section of the code using a mapper dependent on Newtonsoft JSON.

I recently received a request to change some property names within CustomClass (throughout the entire structure). My initial thought was to create another set of classes - one for data input and another for data output, with a converter in between. However, due to the complexity and number of classes involved, this approach would require significant effort. Additionally, the conversion process would result in double the memory usage to store two identical sets of data.

My second idea was to utilize

JsonProperty(PropertyName ="X")

to alter the generated JSON output. However, this caused issues with the input process which also relies on Newtonsoft JSON.

Next, I considered creating a custom serializer and using the

[JsonConverter(typeof(CustomCoverter))]

attribute. Unfortunately, this resulted in a global change to how CustomClass is serialized across the board, rather than allowing me to customize serialization for specific methods.

Therefore, my question is... Does anyone have any suggestions on how to selectively modify the serialization of my CustomClass for certain methods only?

c#asp.net json asp.net-mvc asp.net-web-api

Answer 1

Answer №1

Here is the solution that worked for me:

1) I crafted a custom Attribute and used it to mark the properties requiring name changes in the serialized Json:

[AttributeUsage(AttributeTargets.Property)]
class MyCustomJsonPropertyAttribute : Attribute
{
    public string PropertyName { get; protected set; }

    public MyCustomJsonPropertyAttribute(string propertyName)
    {
        PropertyName = propertyName;
    }
}

2) I then annotated the properties accordingly:

class MyCustomClass
{
    [MyCustomJsonProperty("RenamedProperty")]
    public string OriginalNameProperty { get; set; }
}

3) A Custom Resolver was implemented using reflection to map the property names for those decorated with MyCustomJsonPropertyAttribute:

class MyCustomResolver : DefaultContractResolver
{               
    public MyCustomResolver()
    {            
    }

    protected override JsonProperty CreateProperty(MemberInfo member, MemberSerialization memberSerialization)
    {
        JsonProperty prop = base.CreateProperty(member, memberSerialization);

        var attr = member.GetCustomAttribute(typeof(MyCustomJsonPropertyAttribute));
        if (attr!=null)
        {
            string jsonName = ((MyCustomJsonPropertyAttribute)attr).PropertyName;
            prop.PropertyName = jsonName;
        }
        return prop;
    }

}

4) Finally, I updated the controller method like this:

    [HttpPost]
    public JsonResult<MyCustomClass> Details(RequestClass request)
    {
        var encoding = Encoding.GetEncoding("iso-8859-1");
        var settings = new Newtonsoft.Json.JsonSerializerSettings()
        {
            ContractResolver = new MyCustomResolver()
        };
        return Json(_InputService.CustomClassGet(request.Id), settings, encoding);
    }

Special thanks to dbc for guiding me in the right direction.

Answer 2

Here is the solution that worked for me:

1) I crafted a custom Attribute and used it to mark the properties requiring name changes in the serialized Json:

[AttributeUsage(AttributeTargets.Property)]
class MyCustomJsonPropertyAttribute : Attribute
{
    public string PropertyName { get; protected set; }

    public MyCustomJsonPropertyAttribute(string propertyName)
    {
        PropertyName = propertyName;
    }
}

2) I then annotated the properties accordingly:

class MyCustomClass
{
    [MyCustomJsonProperty("RenamedProperty")]
    public string OriginalNameProperty { get; set; }
}

3) A Custom Resolver was implemented using reflection to map the property names for those decorated with MyCustomJsonPropertyAttribute:

class MyCustomResolver : DefaultContractResolver
{               
    public MyCustomResolver()
    {            
    }

    protected override JsonProperty CreateProperty(MemberInfo member, MemberSerialization memberSerialization)
    {
        JsonProperty prop = base.CreateProperty(member, memberSerialization);

        var attr = member.GetCustomAttribute(typeof(MyCustomJsonPropertyAttribute));
        if (attr!=null)
        {
            string jsonName = ((MyCustomJsonPropertyAttribute)attr).PropertyName;
            prop.PropertyName = jsonName;
        }
        return prop;
    }

}

4) Finally, I updated the controller method like this:

    [HttpPost]
    public JsonResult<MyCustomClass> Details(RequestClass request)
    {
        var encoding = Encoding.GetEncoding("iso-8859-1");
        var settings = new Newtonsoft.Json.JsonSerializerSettings()
        {
            ContractResolver = new MyCustomResolver()
        };
        return Json(_InputService.CustomClassGet(request.Id), settings, encoding);
    }

Special thanks to dbc for guiding me in the right direction.

Tips for renaming property names during JSON serialization in asp.Net

Answer №1

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