Converting C# List into JSON specific format

Question

I have a graph in my view which looks like this:

 var hourlyGraph = Morris.Bar({
 element: 'graph_bar',
 data: [
 @foreach (var item in ViewBag.HourlyGraph)
 {
 @:{device: '@item.Hour.ToString("D2"):00', geekbench:@item.Sales },
 }
 ],
 xkey: 'device',
 ykeys: ['geekbench'],
 labels: ['Sold'],
 barRatio: 0.4,
 barColors: ['#0A4D70', '#34495E', '#ACADAC', '#3498DB'],
 xLabelAngle: 35,
 hideHover: 'auto',
 resize: true
 });

This is a morris chart. Note how the data is set up here:

[
@foreach (var item in ViewBag.HourlyGraph)
{
@:{device: '@item.Hour.ToString("D2"):00', geekbench:@item.Sales },
}
]

And now I need to fill the chart with new data. In my Action I have created a list which contains 2 properties:

public int Hour {get;set;}
public int Sales {get;set;}

And they are stored into a list typed of:

var HourlyGraph = new List<HourlyGraph>();

Now I'd like to convert this list into a JSON format which would look something like this:

[
{device: '0', geekbench:5 },
{device: '1', geekbench:13 },
{device: '2', geekbench:25 },
{device: '3', geekbench:14 },
{device: '4', geekbench:16 },
]

Where value for device would be = hour, and geekbench = sales ...

How could I do this in C#?

• Joab Santos: Something like this would work ? new JavaScriptSerializer().Deserialize<HourlyGraph>(yourList)
• Tom Doodler: Did you have a look at the Newtonsoft.JSON library? You will find it on nuget
• User987: @TomDoodler yes but what confuses me here is how do I set the first string in json to be named like "device" and "geekbench" ?
• User987: @joab what about "device" and "geekbench" values, how do I place them in JSON response ?
• Joab Santos: Somethin like this would work ? [JsonProperty(PropertyName = "device")] public int Hour {get;set;}

Answer 1

With Json.Net and Linq it's easy:

string myJson = 
 JsonConvert.SerializeObject(mylist.Select(item=>
 new {device=item.Hour, geekbench=item.Sales}));

You project an anonymous type with the fields and names that you'd like, and let Newtonsoft.Json do the rest.

• User987: Ofir, this is NewtonSoft.JSON library , no ? It says it doesn't contains method "Serialize" ... ?
• Ofir Winegarten: it's SerializeObject sorry
• User987: Ofir, another quick question, says i.Sales doens't exists ... ? Should it be item.Sales or ?
• Ofir Winegarten: ohhh me and my typos... sure it's item
• User987: haha happens , thx a lot =D .. Btw. return type of this action should be string or JsonResponse? Or just a simple string ?

Answer 2

since you are using mvc why not use return Json() it will convert the object to json string you can use it like

 public ActionResult Myaction()
 { 
 var HourlyGraph = new List<HourlyGraph>();
 return Json(HourlyGraph.Select(x => new {Hour=x.Hour,Sales=x.Sales }));
 }

• User987: Usman this looks too good to be true haha... Hold on I'll try =D

Answer 3

You can achieve the desired output by using LINQ Anonymous Type

As per example following is class

public class HourlyGraph
{
 public int Hour { get; set; }
 public int Sales { get; set; }
}

Import Namespace System.Web.Script.Serialization which is a Microsoft's Inbuilt Class for dealing with JSON. You will need to refer additional assembly named System.Web.Extensions using 'Add References'.

using System.Web.Script.Serialization;

Declare List and Convert into customized JSON Format

 var listHourlyGraph = new List<HourlyGraph>();
 //Adding some Sample Values
 listHourlyGraph.Add(new HourlyGraph() { Hour = 0, Sales = 5 });
 listHourlyGraph.Add(new HourlyGraph() { Hour = 1, Sales = 10 });
 //Declaring JavaScriptSerialzer Object
 var serialzer = new JavaScriptSerializer();
 //Using Serialize Method which returns back a JSON String
 //We are using LINQ SELECT Method to create a new anonymous return type which contains our custom return types
 string s = serialzer.Serialize(listHourlyGraph.Select(x => new { device = x.Hour, geekbench = x.Sales } ));

You will get the following output in 's' variable

[{"device":0,"geekbench":5},{"device":1,"geekbench":10}]

Note: If you want to get performance optimizations then you are better using Newtonsoft JSON Library instead of Microsoft's Default JSON Library.

• vibs2006: Also to add if you want the JSON values as string rather than integer then use C#'s ToString() method in anoumous type. e.g string s = serialzer.Serialize(listHourlyGraph.Select(x => new { device = x.Hour.ToString(), geekbench = x.Sales.ToString() } ))