DataContractJsonSerializer Class (System.Runtime.Serialization.Json)

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ScriptFree
.NET Framework Class Library for Silverlight
DataContractJsonSerializer Class

Serializes objects to the JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) and deserializes JSON data to objects. This class cannot be inherited.

Inheritance Hierarchy

System.Object
  System.Runtime.Serialization.Json.DataContractJsonSerializer

Namespace:  System.Runtime.Serialization.Json
Assembly:  System.ServiceModel.Web (in System.ServiceModel.Web.dll)
Syntax

Visual Basic (Declaration)
Public NotInheritable Class DataContractJsonSerializer
C#
public sealed class DataContractJsonSerializer

The DataContractJsonSerializer type exposes the following members.

Constructors

  Name Description
Public method Supported by Silverlight for Windows Phone DataContractJsonSerializer(Type) Initializes a new instance of the DataContractJsonSerializer class to serialize or deserialize an object of the specified type.
Public method Supported by Silverlight for Windows Phone DataContractJsonSerializer(Type, IEnumerable(Of Type)) Initializes a new instance of the DataContractJsonSerializer class to serialize or deserialize an object of a specified type with a collection of known types that may be present in the object graph.
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Properties

  Name Description
Public property Supported by Silverlight for Windows Phone KnownTypes Gets a collection of types that may be present in the object graph serialized using this instance of the DataContractJsonSerializer.
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Methods

  Name Description
Public method Supported by Silverlight for Windows Phone Equals(Object) Determines whether the specified Object is equal to the current Object. (Inherited from Object.)
Protected method Supported by Silverlight for Windows Phone Finalize Allows an object to try to free resources and perform other cleanup operations before the Object is reclaimed by garbage collection. (Inherited from Object.)
Public method Supported by Silverlight for Windows Phone GetHashCode Serves as a hash function for a particular type. (Inherited from Object.)
Public method Supported by Silverlight for Windows Phone GetType Gets the Type of the current instance. (Inherited from Object.)
Protected method Supported by Silverlight for Windows Phone MemberwiseClone Creates a shallow copy of the current Object. (Inherited from Object.)
Public method Supported by Silverlight for Windows Phone ReadObject Reads a document stream in the JSON (JavaScript Object Notation) format and returns the deserialized object.
Public method Supported by Silverlight for Windows Phone ToString Returns a string that represents the current object. (Inherited from Object.)
Public method Supported by Silverlight for Windows Phone WriteObject Serializes a specified object to JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) data and writes the resulting JSON to a stream.
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Remarks

Use the DataContractJsonSerializer class to serialize instances of a type into a JSON document and to deserialize a JSON document into an instance of a type. For example, you can create a type named Person with properties that contain essential data, such as a name and address. You can then create and manipulate an instance of the Person class and write all of its property values in a JSON document for later retrieval. This JSON document can later be deserialized into the Person class or another class with an equivalent data contract.

Examples

Visual Basic

Namespace SL_DataContractJsonSerializer
	Partial Public Class Page
		Inherits UserControl
		Public Sub New()
			InitializeComponent()
		End Sub

		'This uses an event handler, not SL data binding
		Private Sub OnClick(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal args As EventArgs)
			txtOutput1.Text = "Create a User object and serialize it."
			Dim json As String = WriteFromObject()
			txtOutput2.Text = json.ToString() ' Displays: {"Age":42,"Name":"Bob"}

			txtOutput3.Text = "Deserialize the data to a User object."
			Dim jsonString As String = "{'Name':'Bill', 'Age':53}"
			Dim deserializedUser As User = ReadToObject(jsonString)
			txtOutput4.Text = deserializedUser.Name ' Displays: Bill
			txtOutput5.Text = deserializedUser.Age.ToString() ' Displays: 53
		End Sub
		' Create a User object and serialize it to a JSON stream.
		Public Shared Function WriteFromObject() As String
			'Create User object.
			Dim user As New User("Bob", 42)

			'Create a stream to serialize the object to.
			Dim ms As New MemoryStream()

			' Serializer the User object to the stream.
			Dim ser As New DataContractJsonSerializer(GetType(User))
			ser.WriteObject(ms, user)
			Dim json() As Byte = ms.ToArray()
			ms.Close()
			Return Encoding.UTF8.GetString(json, 0, json.Length)

		End Function

		' Deserialize a JSON stream to a User object.
		Public Shared Function ReadToObject(ByVal json As String) As User
			Dim deserializedUser As New User()
			Dim ms As New MemoryStream(Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes(json))
			Dim ser As New DataContractJsonSerializer(deserializedUser.GetType())
			deserializedUser = TryCast(ser.ReadObject(ms), User)
			ms.Close()
			Return deserializedUser
		End Function

	End Class

	<DataContract> _
	Public Class User
		Private privateName As String
		<DataMember> _
		Public Property Name() As String
			Get
				Return privateName
			End Get
			Set(ByVal value As String)
				privateName = value
			End Set
		End Property

		Private privateAge As Integer
		<DataMember> _
		Public Property Age() As Integer
			Get
				Return privateAge
			End Get
			Set(ByVal value As Integer)
				privateAge = value
			End Set
		End Property

		Public Sub New()
		End Sub

		Public Sub New(ByVal newName As String, ByVal newAge As Integer)
			Name = newName
			Age = newAge
		End Sub

	End Class

End Namespace



C#

namespace SL_DataContractJsonSerializer
{
    public partial class Page : UserControl
    {
        public Page()
        {
            InitializeComponent();
        }

        //This uses an event handler, not SL data binding
        void OnClick(object sender, EventArgs args)
        {
            txtOutput1.Text = "Create a User object and serialize it.";
            string json = WriteFromObject();
            txtOutput2.Text = json.ToString(); // Displays: {"Age":42,"Name":"Bob"}

            txtOutput3.Text = "Deserialize the data to a User object.";
            string jsonString = "{'Name':'Bill', 'Age':53}";
            User deserializedUser = ReadToObject(jsonString);
            txtOutput4.Text = deserializedUser.Name; // Displays: Bill
            txtOutput5.Text = deserializedUser.Age.ToString(); // Displays: 53
        }
        // Create a User object and serialize it to a JSON stream.
        public static string WriteFromObject()
        {
            //Create User object.
            User user = new User("Bob", 42);

            //Create a stream to serialize the object to.
            MemoryStream ms = new MemoryStream();

            // Serializer the User object to the stream.
            DataContractJsonSerializer ser = new DataContractJsonSerializer(typeof(User));
            ser.WriteObject(ms, user);
            byte[] json = ms.ToArray();
            ms.Close();
            return Encoding.UTF8.GetString(json, 0, json.Length);

        }

        // Deserialize a JSON stream to a User object.
        public static User ReadToObject(string json)
        {
            User deserializedUser = new User();
            MemoryStream ms = new MemoryStream(Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes(json));
            DataContractJsonSerializer ser = new DataContractJsonSerializer(deserializedUser.GetType());
            deserializedUser = ser.ReadObject(ms) as User;
            ms.Close();
            return deserializedUser;
        }

    }

    [DataContract]
    public class User
    {
        [DataMember]
        public string Name { get; set; }

        [DataMember]
        public int Age { get; set; }

        public User() { }

        public User(string newName, int newAge)
        {
            Name = newName;
            Age = newAge;
        }

    }

}



Version Information

Silverlight

Supported in: 5, 4, 3

Silverlight for Windows Phone

Supported in: Windows Phone OS 7.1, Windows Phone OS 7.0

XNA Framework

Supported in: Windows Phone OS 7.0
Platforms

For a list of the operating systems and browsers that are supported by Silverlight, see Supported Operating Systems and Browsers.

Thread Safety

Any public static (Shared in Visual Basic) members of this type are thread safe. Any instance members are not guaranteed to be thread safe.
See Also

Reference

Community Content

MrAlikor
Generic Implementation
public static T ReadToObject<T>(string json)
        {
            MemoryStream ms = new MemoryStream(Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes(json));
            DataContractJsonSerializer ser = new DataContractJsonSerializer(typeof(T));
            var obj = (T)ser.ReadObject(ms);
            ms.Close();
            return obj;
        }

jerry-nixon
Not in Windows phone 7.1 (or 7.5?)
Visual Studio says Json does not exist in the namespace 'System.Runtime.Serialization'

Until I added a reference to System.Servicemodel.Web.

vita100
.

.


Luis Cantero
Delete
Delete

Ruddiger Hax
System.Runtime.Serialization.SerializationException ---&gt; System.ArgumentOutOfRangeException
If you try to serialize a Min DateTime when you are west of GMT (Australia, NZ, some of Asia, ...) DataContractJsonSerializer will crash because 01/0/0001 07:00:00 (in a GMT+8 time zone) doesn't exist. (Technically it is 7 hours before the start of the year 0001.)

The JavaScriptSerializer allows converters to be registered so DateTime can be handled in a special way, avoiding this issue.
Can DataContractJsonSerializer also use some type of converter to deal with this issue?

You can avoid this issue by setting the DateTime.Kind property to UTC and then it will be correctly serialized.

Everyone else that wants to use this class, you have been warned.