ASP.NET MVC 3 controller .Json method serialization doesn't look at DataMember Name attribure

Question

In my class i\'ve got:

[DataMember(Name = \"jsonMemberName\", EmitDefaultValue = false, 
    IsRequired = false)]
public List Member { get; set         


        

Answer 1

The JsonResult action which you are returning from the controller action (using return Json(...)) internally relies on the JavaScriptSerializer class. This class doesn't take into account any DataMember attributes on your model.

You could write a custom ActionResult which uses the serializer in the System.Runtime.Serialization.Json namespace.

For example:

public class MyJsonResult : JsonResult
{
    public override void ExecuteResult(ControllerContext context)
    {
        var response = context.HttpContext.Response;
        if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(ContentType))
        {
            response.ContentType = ContentType;
        }
        else
        {
            response.ContentType = "application/json";
        }
        if (ContentEncoding != null)
        {
            response.ContentEncoding = this.ContentEncoding;
        }
        if (Data != null)
        {
            var serializer = new DataContractJsonSerializer(Data.GetType());
            serializer.WriteObject(response.OutputStream, Data);
        }
    }
}

and then in your controller action:

public ActionResult Foo()
{
    var model = ...
    return new MyJsonResult { Data = model };
}