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JSON serialization in C#


From time to time, I forget where the various classes are defined. So, here is a short tutorial to how you get JSON working in C#:

  • Add a reference to System.Web
  • Add a reference to System.Web.Extensions
  • Add using System.Web.Script.Serialization to your class.

You can now serialize and deserialize objects to/from JSON as such:

public static T Deserialize<T>(String str)
{
   return (new JavaScriptSerializer()).Deserialize<T>(str);
}

public static String Serialize(Object obj)
{
   return (new JavaScriptSerializer()).Serialize(obj);
}

You can now place these functions in a static class, or in a class that implement a serialization interface etc. If you want testable code, create an interface that describes a serializer and implement a JSON serializer that uses the code above.

Addon These days, Newtonsoft JSON is more or less a standard when it comes to working with JSON in .NET. Grab it from NuGet.