How to serialize IEnumerable of Anonymous Type in C# to JavaScript Object?

Question

In my ASP.net C# code, I have an IEnumerable container filled with objects of an anonymous type (which is loosely based on data from SQL).

Suppose that my code looks something like this:

var uics = entities.getData()
    .Select(x => new
        {
            id = x.id
            name = x.name
            age = x.age
        });
return Json(uics); //Serialize JSON in ASP.net MVC 3

This is very simple. When I serialize this to JavaScript, I get an array of objects, each having fields id, name, and age.

What I would like to do is serialize this data to a JavaScript Object with id as the index, with each object referenced by its index having fields name and age.

How can I accomplish this.

You mean you want an array, basically? So that the json will look like: [ "id1" : {name: name1, age: age1} , "id2" : {name, name2: age: age2}] ? — Alexander Corwin
– Alexander Corwin, Commented Apr 6, 2012 at 15:54
The JSON should look something like what you describe, @Alexander — Vivian River
– Vivian River, Commented Apr 6, 2012 at 15:56
Maybe this blog post can be of any help : west-wind.com/weblog/posts/2012/Mar/09/… — jbl
– jbl, Commented Apr 6, 2012 at 16:11

Jon · Accepted Answer · 2012-04-06 15:58:54Z

4

You can create an IDictionary and use it as the result of the action:

var uics = entities.getData()
    .ToDictionary(x => x.id, x => new { x.name, x.age });

return Json(uics); //Serialize JSON in ASP.net MVC 3

There is no need to explicitly specify the property names for the anonymous type used here, because the compiler defaults those to the name of the property used to provide a value (which in both cases here is the same).

answered Apr 6, 2012 at 15:58

Jon

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1 Comment

Vivian River Over a year ago

+1: This is the answer I'm looking for. I would like to add that I discovered as I implemented this answer that if your dictionary key is a strongly-typed GUID, you must first cast it to a string.

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