How ASP MVC return json with variable name

Question

I have this user class

public class User
{
    public string name { get; set; }
    public string phone { get; set; }
    public string address { get; set; }
}

var users = new List<User>(){
    new User(){
        name = "Chriss",
        phone = "45096820",
        address = "xxx, street."
    },
    ...
};

How do i return using ASP MVC Json method

return Json(users, JsonRequestBehavior.AllowGet);

that the return json format looks like the below

"Users"  :
    {
    "Chris" :
        {
            "phone" : "45096820",
            "address" : "xxx, street."
        },
    "Jason" :
        {
            "phone" : "406980968",
            "address" : "xxx, street"
        }
    }

What happens if you have 2 users with the same name?

Mario Stoilov
– Mario Stoilov

2014-02-14 09:57:13 +00:00
Commented Feb 14, 2014 at 9:57 — Mario Stoilov
– Mario Stoilov, Commented Feb 14, 2014 at 9:57
Note that what you've show is not valid JSON...

Alexei Levenkov
– Alexei Levenkov

2014-02-14 09:58:35 +00:00
Commented Feb 14, 2014 at 9:58 — Alexei Levenkov
– Alexei Levenkov, Commented Feb 14, 2014 at 9:58

Marius Schulz · Accepted Answer · 2014-02-14 10:16:44Z

4

Generally, the "trick" to naming the outermost JSON variable (the root property, so to speak) is to create an anonymous object with exactly that property:

return Json(new { Users = users }, JsonRequestBehavior.AllowGet);

Will return an object with one array property (Users).

If you need a JSON object with one object property (Users) which itself has two properties (Chris and Jason), consider using a Dictionary<string, User> (the key being a user's name) instead of a List<User>:

var users = new Dictionary<string, User>
{
    { "Chris", new User { phone = "45096820", address = "xxx, street." } },
    { "Jason", new User { phone = "406980968", address = "xxx, street." } }
};

Json.NET will serialize dictionaries like your desired output JSON format.

edited Feb 14, 2014 at 10:16

answered Feb 14, 2014 at 9:52

Marius Schulz

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2 Comments

JeeShen Lee Over a year ago

notice the name? the name title is not in the result.

Marius Schulz Over a year ago

@JeeShenLee Now you were faster typing your comment than me updating my answer. ;)

eyalsn · Accepted Answer · 2014-02-14 10:11:51Z

1

In order to get exactly the same Json structure as you wanted, you will have to modify your User class to look like:

public class User
{
    public string phone { get; set; }
    public string address { get; set; }
}

(without the name, the name will be the Key in your dictionary)

and use a Dictionary:

Dictionary<string, User> dictionary = new Dictionary<string, Controllers.User>();
        dictionary.Add("Chris", new User() { phone = "45096820", address = "xxx, street" });
        dictionary.Add("Jason", new User() { phone = "406980968", address = "xxx, street" });
        return Json(new { Users = dictionary }, JsonRequestBehavior.AllowGet);

answered Feb 14, 2014 at 10:11

eyalsn

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