JSON Serialization and Deserialization in C#

Introduction

JSON serialization (converting C# objects to JSON) and deserialization (converting JSON to C# objects) is are common task in C# development, especially when dealing with data interchange between different systems or storing data in a human-readable format. In C#, this functionality is often handled using libraries such as Newtonsoft.Json (Json.NET) or the built-in System.Text.Json in more recent versions of .NET.

JSON Serialization (C# object to JSON)

Using Newtonsoft.Json (Json.NET)

Install Json.NET package

Install-Package Newtonsoft.Json

Serialize C# Object to JSON

using Newtonsoft.Json;

public class Person
{
    public string Name { get; set; }
    public int Age { get; set; }
}

class Program
{
    static void Main()
    {
        Person person = new Person { Name = "Alice", Age = 30 };

        string json = JsonConvert.SerializeObject(person);

        Console.WriteLine(json);
        // Output: {"Name":"Alice","Age":30}
    }
}

Using System.Text.Json (Starting from .NET 5)

using System;
using System.Text.Json;

public class Person
{
    public string Name { get; set; }
    public int Age { get; set; }
}

class Program
{
    static void Main()
    {
        Person person = new Person { Name = "Bob", Age = 25 };

        string json = JsonSerializer.Serialize(person);

        Console.WriteLine(json);
        // Output: {"Name":"Bob","Age":25}
    }
}

JSON Deserialization (JSON to C# object)

Using Newtonsoft.Json (Json.NET)

using Newtonsoft.Json;

public class Person
{
    public string Name { get; set; }
    public int Age { get; set; }
}

class Program
{
    static void Main()
    {
        string json = "{\"Name\":\"Alice\",\"Age\":30}";

        Person person = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<Person>(json);

        Console.WriteLine($"Name: {person.Name}, Age: {person.Age}");
        // Output: Name: Alice, Age: 30
    }
}

Using System.Text.Json (Starting from .NET 5)

using System;
using System.Text.Json;

public class Person
{
    public string Name { get; set; }
    public int Age { get; set; }
}

class Program
{
    static void Main()
    {
        string json = "{\"Name\":\"Bob\",\"Age\":25}";

        Person person = JsonSerializer.Deserialize<Person>(json);

        Console.WriteLine($"Name: {person.Name}, Age: {person.Age}");
        // Output: Name: Bob, Age: 25
    }
}

These examples demonstrate how to serialize C# objects to JSON and deserialize JSON into C# objects using Newtonsoft.Json (Json.NET) and System.Text.Json libraries. Choose the appropriate library based on your project requirements and framework version.