How can I exclude some public properties from being serialized into a JsonResult?

Question

Hi,

I have a custom viewmodel which serialized using a JsonResult. The ViewModel has some properties which have to be public, but at the same time these properties should not be visible in the resulting Json output.

I've already tried using the [NonSerialized] attribute, but that did not seem to have any effect.

Is there any simple way to do this? Or would I have to code my own result type (in which case I probably won't bother)?

Answer 1

Not exactly the answer you're looking for, but you can cheat Json() using the following code and anonymous classes:

MyModel model = ...;
return Json(new MyModel {model.Prop1, model.Prop2});

Answer 2

You can create a wrapper class that exposes only those properties that you want in the JsonResult. In the example below, Cow has 2 properties - "Leg" and "Moo". Suppose you want to only expose "Leg" as a property. Then

Dim cw as CowWrapper = New CowWrapper(c)

will return a wrapper class that only exposes "Leg". This is also useful for things like DataGridView if you only want to display some subset of the properties.

Public Class Cow

Public ReadOnly Property Leg() as String

   get

      return "leg"

   end get

end Property

Public ReadOnly Property Moo() as String

   get

      return "moo"

   end get

end Property

end class

Public Class CowWrapper

Private m_cow as Cow = Nothing

Public Sub New(ByVal cow as Cow)

   m_cow = cow

end Sub


    m_cow = cow

Public ReadOnly Property Leg() as String

   get

      return m_cow.Leg()

   end get

end Property

end Class

Answer 3

Extend the JavaScriptConverter class to not include properties with the NonSerializedAttribute. Then you can create a custom ActionResult that uses your JavaScriptConverter to serialize the object.

This creates a solid and testable class without having to (re)generate wrapper classes or using anonymous objects.

Answer 4

Have a look at JSON.NET from James Newton-King. It'll do what you're looking for.

HTHs
Charles

Answer 5

You can put a [ScriptIgnore] attribute on the members that shouldn't be serialized. See http://www.creave.dk/post/2009/10/07/Excluding-properties-from-being-serialized-in-ASPNET-MVC-JsonResult.aspx for an example.