How can I serialize/deserialize a dictionary with custom keys using Json.Net?

Question

I have the following class, that I use as a key in a dictionary:

    public class MyClass
    {
        private readonly string _property;

        public My         


        

Answer 1

Grx70's answer is good - just adding an alternative solution here. I ran into this problem in a Web API project where I wasn't calling SerializeObject but allowing the serialization to happen automagically.

This custom JsonConverter based on Brian Rogers' answer to a similar question did the trick for me:

public class DeepDictionaryConverter : JsonConverter
{
    public override bool CanConvert(Type objectType)
    {
        return (typeof(IDictionary).IsAssignableFrom(objectType) ||
                TypeImplementsGenericInterface(objectType, typeof(IDictionary<,>)));
    }

    private static bool TypeImplementsGenericInterface(Type concreteType, Type interfaceType)
    {
        return concreteType.GetInterfaces()
               .Any(i => i.IsGenericType && i.GetGenericTypeDefinition() == interfaceType);
    }

    public override void WriteJson(JsonWriter writer, object value, JsonSerializer serializer)
    {
        Type type = value.GetType();
        IEnumerable keys = (IEnumerable)type.GetProperty("Keys").GetValue(value, null);
        IEnumerable values = (IEnumerable)type.GetProperty("Values").GetValue(value, null);
        IEnumerator valueEnumerator = values.GetEnumerator();

        writer.WriteStartArray();
        foreach (object key in keys)
        {
            valueEnumerator.MoveNext();

            writer.WriteStartArray();
            serializer.Serialize(writer, key);
            serializer.Serialize(writer, valueEnumerator.Current);
            writer.WriteEndArray();
        }
        writer.WriteEndArray();
    }

    public override object ReadJson(JsonReader reader, Type objectType, object existingValue, JsonSerializer serializer)
    {
        throw new NotImplementedException();
    }
}

In my case, I was serializing a Dictionary property on a class where MyCustomType had properties like Name and Id. This is the result:

...
"dictionaryProp": [
    [
      {
        "name": "MyCustomTypeInstance1.Name",
        "description": null,
        "id": null
      },
      3
    ],
    [
      {
        "name": "MyCustomTypeInstance2.Name",
        "description": null,
        "id": null
      },
      2
    ]
]
...