Return json with lower case first letter of property names

Question

I have LoginModel:

public class LoginModel : IData
{
    public string Email { get; set; }
    public string Password { get; set; }
}

and I hav

Answer 1

To force all json data returned from api to camel case it's easier to use Newtonsoft Json with the default camel case contract resolver.

Create a class like this one:

using Newtonsoft.Json.Serialization;

internal class JsonContentNegotiator : IContentNegotiator
{
    private readonly JsonMediaTypeFormatter _jsonFormatter;

    public JsonContentNegotiator(JsonMediaTypeFormatter formatter)
    {
        _jsonFormatter = formatter;          
        _jsonFormatter.SerializerSettings.ContractResolver =
            new CamelCasePropertyNamesContractResolver();
    }

    public ContentNegotiationResult Negotiate(Type type, HttpRequestMessage request, IEnumerable<MediaTypeFormatter> formatters)
    {
        return new ContentNegotiationResult(_jsonFormatter, new MediaTypeHeaderValue("application/json"));
    }
}

and set this during api configuration (at startup):

var jsonFormatter = new JsonMediaTypeFormatter();
httpConfiguration.Services.Replace(typeof(IContentNegotiator), new JsonContentNegotiator(jsonFormatter));

Answer 2

If your are using Newtonsoft.Json, you can add JsonProperties to your view model :

public class LoginModel : IData
{
     [JsonProperty(PropertyName = "email")]
     public string Email {get;set;}

     [JsonProperty(PropertyName = "password")]
     public string Password {get;set;}
}

Answer 3

You can add the two following statement in the configuration of the web API or to the startup file

using Newtonsoft.Json;
using Newtonsoft.Json.Serialization;

GlobalConfiguration.Configuration.Formatters.JsonFormatter.SerializerSettings.ContractResolver = new CamelCasePropertyNamesContractResolver();
GlobalConfiguration.Configuration.Formatters.JsonFormatter.SerializerSettings.Formatting = Formatting.Indented;

But it is very important to use the return Ok() method instead of return Json() otherwise; this will not work.

if you have to use Json method (and have no other choice) then see this answer https://stackoverflow.com/a/28960505/4390133

Answer 4

If you need it only in some certain place and not throughout whole application, then you can do following:

var objectToSerialize = new {Property1 = "value1", SubOjbect = new { SubObjectId = 1 }};
var json = Newtonsoft.Json.JsonConvert.SerializeObject(data, new JsonSerializerSettings { ContractResolver = new Newtonsoft.Json.Serialization.CamelCasePropertyNamesContractResolver() });

It should result in {"property1":"value1","subOjbect":{"subObjectId":1}} (note that nested properties also starts from lowercase)