Does anyone know of decent examples of custom JavaScriptConverter classes? The MSDN's only example is of one converting a ListItemCollection. What about custom classes? What if the custom class has a property of another custom class? Do we need two converters? Any references would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks!
You should only need one converter. The example basically outlines how to use the JavaScript converter for any custom class. It doesn't need to be a class that is part of the framework.
It will also work for any properties of a custom class that are themselves a custom class.
JSON views objects as collections of key/value pairs, so the documentation example shows how you should take any properties of your object and put them into Dictionaries (a type of Key/Value pair object). If you need a nested custom type, you can just nest Key/Value pairs inside of your main Key/Value pair collection.
Also, unless you have very specific needs (built-in serialization either won't work, or doesn't output what you want), you should just use the JavaScriptSerializer class.
JavaScriptSerializer serializer = new JavaScriptSerializer();
MyCustomObject obj = new MyCustomObject();
string json = serializer.Serialize(obj);
MyCustomObject object2 = serializer.Deserialize<MyCustomObject>(json);
That should do what you want in 95% of cases.