Serializing a dynamic property to JSON

Question

I have a Web API project that hydrates an object defined as the following from JSON. I am attempting to insert this object into a RavenDB database, but am finding that the dynamic property 'Content' is not being serialized properly (note the empty arrays).

I have tried several serializers to produce json strins: System.Helpers.Json.Encode(), System.Web.Script.Serialization.JavaScriptSerializer. Both suffers from the same problem.

RavenJObject.fromObject(obj) suffers from the same problem.

Is there a way to accomplish what I aim to do in spite of this apparent limitation in CLR reflection?

public class SampleType
    {
        public Guid? Id { get; private set; }
        public dynamic Content { get; set; }
        public string Message { get; set; }
        public string Actor { get; set; }

        public LogEntry()
        {
            Id = Guid.NewGuid();
        }
    }

JSON submitted to API:
{
    "Content": {
        "SomeNumber": 5,
        "ADate": "/Date(1360640329155)/",
        "MaybeABoolean": true,
        "EmptyGUID": "00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000"
    },
    "Message": "Hey there",
    "Actor": "John Dow"
}

Hydrated object:
    ID: {b75d9134-2fd9-4c89-90f7-a814fa2f244d}
    Content: {
        "SomeNumber": 5,
        "ADate": "2013-02-12T04:37:44.029Z",
        "MaybeABoolean": true,
        "EmptyGUID": "00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000"
    }
    Message: "Hey there",
    Actor: "John Dow"

JSON from all three methods:
{
    "Id": "b75d9134-2fd9-4c89-90f7-a814fa2f244d",
    "Content": [
        [
            []
        ],
        [
            []
        ],
        [
            []
        ],
        [
            []
        ]
    ],
    "Message": "Hey there",
    "Actor": "John Dow"
}

Alex G.P. · Answer 1 · 2013-02-12T07:02:29.397

2

As I remember we used the Newtonsoft JSON serializer, it was handled dynamic and Expando objects well.

edited Feb 12 '13 at 07:02

answered Feb 12 '13 at 05:14

Alex G.P.

9,609
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score 0 · Answer 2 · edited May 23 '17 at 12:27

0

You can use Planet's fastest library for this Servicestack.Text. The solution to your problem is already answered here.

edited May 23 '17 at 12:27

Community

1
1

answered Feb 12 '13 at 05:13

Bhushan Firake

9,338
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score 0 · Accepted Answer · answered Feb 12 '13 at 08:07

0

Your dynamic object has to implement the GetDynamicFieldNames() method properly for dynamic serialization to work.

answered Feb 12 '13 at 08:07

Ayende Rahien

22,925
1
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This was the key. I ended up using the ExpandoObject type. – ebpa Feb 15 '13 at 23:53

score 0 · Answer 4 · answered Feb 12 '13 at 16:52

I'm really not sure what you're getting at.

public class Foo
{
    public dynamic Bar { get; set; }
}

var foo = new Foo { Bar = new { A = 1, B = "abc", C = true } };
Debug.WriteLine(RavenJObject.FromObject(foo).ToString(Formatting.None));
Debug.WriteLine(JsonConvert.SerializeObject(foo, Formatting.None));

Output of both of these is:

{"Bar":{"A":1,"B":"abc","C":true}}

Did I miss something?

Serializing a dynamic property to JSON

4 Answers4