JavaScriptSerializer - JSON serialization of enum as string

Question

I have a class that contains an enum property, and upon serializing the object using JavaScriptSerializer, my json result contains the integer valu

Answer 1

For ASP.Net core Just add the following to your Startup Class:

JsonConvert.DefaultSettings = (() =>
        {
            var settings = new JsonSerializerSettings();
            settings.Converters.Add(new StringEnumConverter { AllowIntegerValues = false });
            return settings;
        });

Answer 2

I wasn't able to change the source model like in the top answer (of @ob.), and I didn't want to register it globally like @Iggy. So I combined https://stackoverflow.com/a/2870420/237091 and @Iggy's https://stackoverflow.com/a/18152942/237091 to allow setting up the string enum converter on during the SerializeObject command itself:

Newtonsoft.Json.JsonConvert.SerializeObject(
    objectToSerialize, 
    Newtonsoft.Json.Formatting.None, 
    new Newtonsoft.Json.JsonSerializerSettings()
    {
        Converters = new List<Newtonsoft.Json.JsonConverter> {
            new Newtonsoft.Json.Converters.StringEnumConverter()
        }
    })

Answer 3

Noticed that there is no answer for serialization when there is a Description attribute.

Here is my implementation that supports the Description attribute.

public class CustomStringEnumConverter : Newtonsoft.Json.Converters.StringEnumConverter
{
    public override void WriteJson(JsonWriter writer, object value, JsonSerializer serializer)
    {
        Type type = value.GetType() as Type;

        if (!type.IsEnum) throw new InvalidOperationException("Only type Enum is supported");
        foreach (var field in type.GetFields())
        {
            if (field.Name == value.ToString())
            {
                var attribute = Attribute.GetCustomAttribute(field, typeof(DescriptionAttribute)) as DescriptionAttribute;
                writer.WriteValue(attribute != null ? attribute.Description : field.Name);

                return;
            }
        }

        throw new ArgumentException("Enum not found");
    }
}

Enum:

public enum FooEnum
{
    // Will be serialized as "Not Applicable"
    [Description("Not Applicable")]
    NotApplicable,

    // Will be serialized as "Applicable"
    Applicable
}

Usage:

[JsonConverter(typeof(CustomStringEnumConverter))]
public FooEnum test { get; set; }

Answer 4

And for VB.net I found the following works:

Dim sec = New Newtonsoft.Json.Converters.StringEnumConverter()
sec.NamingStrategy() = New Serialization.CamelCaseNamingStrategy

Dim JSON_s As New JsonSerializer
JSON_s.Converters.Add(sec)

Dim jsonObject As JObject
jsonObject = JObject.FromObject(SomeObject, JSON_s)
Dim text = jsonObject.ToString

IO.File.WriteAllText(filePath, text)

Answer 5

You can also add a converter to your JsonSerializer if you don't want to use JsonConverter attribute:

string SerializedResponse = JsonConvert.SerializeObject(
     objToSerialize, 
     new Newtonsoft.Json.Converters.StringEnumConverter()
); 

It will work for every enum it sees during that serialization.

Answer 6

Here is the answer for newtonsoft.json

enum Gender { Male, Female }

class Person
{
    int Age { get; set; }

    [JsonConverter(typeof(StringEnumConverter))]
    Gender Gender { get; set; }
}