Serialize .Net object to json, controlled using xml attributes

Question

I have a .Net object which I\'ve been serializing to Xml and is decorated with Xml attributes. I would now like to serialize the same object to Json, preferably using the N

Answer 1

The class below can be used to serialize (and deserialize) parts of the object tree to XML and then to JSON.

Usage

[JsonObject]
public class ClassToSerializeWithJson
{
    [JsonProperty]
    public TypeThatIsJsonSerializable PropertySerializedWithJsonSerializer {get; set; }

    [JsonProperty]
    [JsonConverter(typeof(JsonXmlConverter))]
    public TypeThatIsXmlSerializable PropertySerializedWithCustomSerializer {get; set; }
}

JsonXmlConverter class

public class JsonXmlConverter : JsonConverter where TType : class
{
    private static readonly XmlSerializer xmlSerializer = new XmlSerializer(typeof(TType));

    public override void WriteJson(JsonWriter writer, object value, JsonSerializer serializer)
    {
        var xml = ToXml(value as TType);
        using (var stream = new StringReader(xml))
        {
            var xDoc = XDocument.Load(stream);
            var json = JsonConvert.SerializeXNode(xDoc);
            writer.WriteRawValue(json);
        }
    }

    public override object ReadJson(JsonReader reader, Type objectType, object existingValue, JsonSerializer serializer)
    {
        if (reader.TokenType == JsonToken.Null) 
        { 
            // consume the 'null' token to set the reader in the correct state
            JToken.Load(reader); 
            return null; 
        }
        var jObj = JObject.Load(reader);
        var json = jObj.ToString();
        var xDoc = JsonConvert.DeserializeXNode(json);
        var xml = xDoc.ToString();
        return FromXml(xml);
    }

    public override bool CanRead => true;

    public override bool CanConvert(Type objectType) => objectType == typeof(TType);

    private static TType FromXml(string xmlString)
    {
        using (StringReader reader = new StringReader(xmlString))
            return (TType)xmlSerializer.Deserialize(reader);
    }

    private static string ToXml(TType obj)
    {
        using (StringWriter writer = new StringWriter())
        using (XmlWriter xmlWriter = XmlWriter.Create(writer))
        {
            XmlSerializerNamespaces ns = new XmlSerializerNamespaces();
            ns.Add(String.Empty, String.Empty);

            xmlSerializer.Serialize(xmlWriter, obj, ns);
            return writer.ToString();
        }
    }
}