JsonConverter: Serialize c# object to json object - asp.net-mvc

Question

When using Json.NET to serialize a MVC view model to json, I have a generic object property on my view model (public object Result { get; set;}) that is getting serialized to key-value pairs instead of an actual json object. Is there a converter I can use to force it to be serialized properly?
This is what is currently being output by Json.NET:
"result": [
{
"key": "AssetId",
"value": "b8d8fb71-2553-485b-91bf-14c6c563d78b"
},
{
"key": "SearchResultType",
"value": "Assets"
},
{
"key": "Name",
"value": "abstract-q-c-1920-1920-8"
}
]
Instead, I would want it to output this:
"result": {
"AssetId": "b8d8fb71-2553-485b-91bf-14c6c563d78b",
"SearchResultType": "Assets",
"Name": "abstract-q-c-1920-1920-8"
}
EDIT:
To answer the question of how that property is getting populated, it is via a RavenDB index:
public class SiteSearchIndexTask : AbstractMultiMapIndexCreationTask<SiteSearchResult>
{
public class Result
{
public object[] Content { get; set; }
}
public override string IndexName
{
get
{
return "SiteSearch/All";
}
}
public SiteSearchIndexTask()
{
AddMap<Asset>(items => from item in items
where item.IsDeleted == false
select new
{
Id = item.Id.ToString(),
ObjectId = item.Id,
ResultType = SearchResultType.Assets,
Title = item.Name.Boost(3),
Tags = item.Tags.Select(x => x.Name).Boost(2),
Result = (object)item,
Query = string.Join(" ", item.Description)
});
AddMap<User>(items => from item in items
where item.IsDeleted == false
select new
{
Id = item.Id,
ObjectId = item.UserId,
ResultType = SearchResultType.Users,
Title = item.Username.Boost(3),
Tags = (BoostedValue) null,
Result = (object)item,
Query = string.Join(" ", item.FullName, item.Email)
});
Store(x => x.ObjectId, FieldStorage.Yes);
Store(x => x.ResultType, FieldStorage.Yes);
Store(x => x.Title, FieldStorage.Yes);
Store(x => x.Tags, FieldStorage.Yes);
Store(x => x.Result, FieldStorage.Yes);
Store(x => x.Query, FieldStorage.Yes);
}
}
Edit 2
Here are the Asset and User models (truncated for brevity, since they're just a bunch of auto properties)
public class Asset : IHasId
{
public string Id { get; set; }
public Guid AssetId
{
get
{
Guid assetId;
Guid.TryParse((Id ?? string.Empty).Replace("assets/", ""), out assetId);
return assetId;
}
set { Id = "assets/" + value; }
}
public string Name { get; set; }
public string Description { get; set; }
}
public class User : IHasId
{
public User()
{
Status = UserStatus.Active;
}
public string Id { get; set; }
public int UserId
{
get
{
int userId;
int.TryParse((Id ?? string.Empty).Replace("users/", ""), out userId);
return userId;
}
set { Id = "users/" + value; }
}
public string Username { get; set; }
public string Password { get; set; }
public string Email { get; set; }
public string FirstName { get; set; }
public string LastName { get; set; }
public UserStatus Status { get; set; }
}
Edit 3
As it turns out, when I step through the code, that object is actually of the type Raven.Abstractions.Linq.DynamicJsonObject, which contains an array of key-value pairs. So I guess this question might be more related to Raven than Json.NET. Unless of course there is a converter to go from key-value pair to json object.

Answer 1

It would help to see how you are querying exactly, but you should take a look at the example on querying unlike documents with a multimap index on the RavenDB site.
When I look at your index, it seems like you are trying to do way too much in terms of field storage and encapsulation of your results. It's sometimes difficult to grasp, but the mapping done in the index is not to define how the results are returned, but rather how the index is built. Unless you are doing a Reduce or TransformResults step, you are still returning the original document.
So encapsulating the document as Result = (object)item is overkill. So is having a ResultType enum. If you need to know the type of document that matched, simply use .GetType() on the object and you will quickly see if it is a User or an Asset.
Here is how I would define your search index. Note there's some differences because there were properties you showed in your index that aren't in the models you provided. (I'm assuming there is a separate entity on the backend than the models on the front end, but adjust as needed.)
public class SearchIndex : AbstractMultiMapIndexCreationTask<SearchIndex.Result>
{
public class Result
{
public object[] Content { get; set; }
public string ResultType { get; set; }
}
public SearchIndex()
{
AddMap<Asset>(items => from item in items
select new Result
{
Content = new object[] {item.Name, item.Description},
ResultType = MetadataFor(item)["Raven-Entity-Name"].ToString()
});
AddMap<User>(items => from item in items
select new Result
{
Content = new object[] { item.Username, item.FirstName, item.LastName, item.Email },
ResultType = MetadataFor(item)["Raven-Entity-Name"].ToString()
});
Index(x => x.Content, FieldIndexing.Analyzed);
}
}
And then I would query it like so:
var results = session.Advanced
.LuceneQuery<object, SearchIndex>()
.Where("ResultType:" + resultTypeName)
.AndAlso()
.Search("Content", searchTerm);
You can then simply examine your results and find that while cast as object, you can indeed do result.GetType() and see how that object is constructed. If desired, you could also put a common interface on your entities to cast to instead of object, such as the IAmSearchable shown in the Raven example.
When you finally pass your result back through MVC, it should be serialized properly, since it will be coming from the real object and not the raven DynamicJsonObject.