Json.NET constructing JSON with object initializers

Question

I want to construct Json.NET object using object initializers for collections.

I can do:

JObject jsonObject = new JObject { { "Date", DateTime.Now }, { "obj", new JObject { { "string", "bla" } } } };

Now I want to do for example:

var j=new HashSet<int> { 5 };
JObject jsonObject = new JObject { { "hashset", j } };

But I get an error because there is no implicit conversion from HashSet to JToken

This works:

var j=new HashSet<int> { 5 };
JObject jsonObject = new JObject { { "hashset", JToken.FromObject(j) } };

but gets very verbose for complex construction.

Unfortunately I can't use extension methods to add an implicit conversion from HashSet to JToken which would have been probably ideal.

Any other ways to solve this ?

This feels like a XY Problem - meta.stackexchange.com/questions/66377/what-is-the-xy-problem . Take a step back and explain to us your underlying problem. What are you trying to achieve? — mjwills
– mjwills, Commented Jun 25, 2018 at 0:39
no it's not an XY problem, why not read the question instead of throwing this back — kofifus
– kofifus, Commented Jun 25, 2018 at 0:42
This is a little over my head so I'm not sure if this is any better, but what if you 'tokenized' when you create the HashSet? JToken t = JToken.FromObject(new { j = new HashSet<int> { 5 } }); Then JObject jsonObject = new JObject { { "hashset", t } };. — wazz
– wazz, Commented Jun 25, 2018 at 1:39
thx, I already have that above, the whole point of this question is to try to allow the very concise syntax — kofifus
– kofifus, Commented Jun 25, 2018 at 2:06

Ivan Stoev · Accepted Answer · 2018-06-25 06:34:13Z

2

Actually you are utilizing the collection initializers, since JObject implements IEnumerable and has Add method with the following signature:

public void Add(string propertyName, JToken value)

So all you need is to create Add extension method with the appropriate signature:

namespace Newtonsoft.Json.Linq
{
    public static class JsonExtensions
    {
        public static void Add(this JObject target, string propertyName, object value) =>
            target.Add(propertyName, JToken.FromObject(value));
    }
}

answered Jun 25, 2018 at 6:34

Ivan Stoev

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