Serialize Dictionary<int,object> using JSON.net?

Question

I'm trying to use JSON.net to serialize a Dictionary.

Using

JsonConvert.SerializeObject(theDict);

Here is my result

{ "1": { "Blah1": false, "Blah2": false, "Blah3": "None", "Blah4": false }, "2": { "Blah1": false, "Blah2": false, "Blah3": "None", "Blah4": false }, "3": { "Blah1": false, "Blah2": false, "Blah3": "None", "Blah4": false }, ... ... ... }

Is there a way to serialize this dictionary such that the keys are rendered as valid javascript variables?

I am also open to other strategies of serializing the dictionary.

They are valid. What would you like the output to look like? — Ry-
– Ry- ♦, Commented Apr 17, 2012 at 18:41
What is going to be the consumer of the produced JSON? If it is going to be javascript then just use JSON.parse deserialize the JSON back to a JS object. — M.Babcock
– M.Babcock, Commented Apr 17, 2012 at 18:51
Ahhh I see. Are those indexs rather than variables? So object[1] vs object.1? Am I interpreting that correctly? — Jeff Mitchell
– Jeff Mitchell, Commented Apr 17, 2012 at 19:18

score 20 · Accepted Answer · 2012-04-17 23:05:58Z

That is the correct way to generate the JSON for Dictionary<int,...>. The reason is that JSON requires that all keys are quoted-string literals.

JS is a little more relaxed in this regard: but JSON is a restricted form of JS object literals. In any case, all property names in JavaScript are strings. (They are implicitly converted as needed.) Thus, ({1: 2})["1"]) and ({"1": 2})[1]) are as equally valid in JS (and both evaluate to 2), but only {"1": 2} is valid JSON.

If the target Type to deserialize back into is Dictionary<int,...> then it will automatically take care of the conversions in the keys to int, IIRC.

I am not aware of a way to get JSON.NET to generate non-JSON directly ;-) It could be done with looping the top-level construct, e.g. each KeyValuePair<int,...> and generating the JSON for each individual entry along with the "modified" JS code:

foreach (var p in dict) { var k = p.Key; var v = p.Value; Emit(string.Format( "var name{0} = {1};", k, JsonConvert.SerializeObject(v))); }

Where Emit is whatever is used to collect the output... I would recommend "just normal JSON" if at all possible, though.

Happy coding.

I was able to puzzle out as much from the comments above and a little research, but it's always nice to get a very specific explanation. Thanks!

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