Dictionary<string, object> serialization

Question

My data class contains Dictionary field for some highly diverse data.

internal class Program
{
    public class DTO
    {
        public string Name { get; set; }
        public Dictionary<string, object> Data { get; set; }
    }

    static void Main(string[] args)
    {
        var dictSerializer = new DictionaryInterfaceImplementerSerializer<Dictionary<string, object>>(DictionaryRepresentation.Document);
        BsonClassMap.RegisterClassMap<DTO>(cm => cm.MapMember(dto => dto.Data).SetSerializer(dictSerializer));

        var instance = new DTO
        {
            Name = "test",
            Data = new Dictionary<string, object>
                {
                    {"str", "thestring"},
                    {"byte", (byte)42},
                    {"bytearray", new byte[]{ 0x1, 0x2, 0x3}}
                }
            };

        var col = new MongoClient("mongodb://localhost:27017").GetDatabase("test").GetCollection<DTO>("test");
        col.InsertOne(instance);
    }
}

And I got:

{ 
    "_id" : ObjectId("56a9eeeacdc5b3ea38c0a522"), 
    "Data" : {
        "str" : "thestring", 
        "byte" : {
            "_t" : "System.Byte", 
            "_v" : NumberInt(42)
        }, 
        "bytearray" : {
            "_t" : "System.Byte[]", 
            "_v" : BinData(0, "AQID")
        }
    }
}

As you see, "byte" and "bytearray" fields serialized with discriminators "_" and "_v". But I expect something like this:

{ 
    "_id" : ObjectId("56a9eeeacdc5b3ea38c0a522"), 
    "Data" : {
        "str" : "thestring", 
        "byte" : 42,
        "bytearray" : BinData(0, "AQID"))
    }
}

How can I achieve this?

Answer 1

If it is possible to use Newtonsoft for Serializing and Deserializing your object, Newtonsoft is the best solution for Serialization operations. Can you please try the code below ?

using Newtonsoft.Json;
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using System.Threading.Tasks;

namespace DictionaryTest
{
    class Program
    {
        public class DTO
        {
            public string Name { get; set; }
            public Dictionary<string, object> Data { get; set; }
        }

        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            //var dictSerializer = new DictionaryInterfaceImplementerSerializer<Dictionary<string, object>>(DictionaryRepresentation.Document);
            //BsonClassMap.RegisterClassMap<DTO>(cm => cm.MapMember(dto => dto.Data).SetSerializer(dictSerializer));

            DTO instance = new DTO
            {
                Name = "test",
                Data = new Dictionary<string, object>
                {
                    {"str", "thestring"},
                    {"byte", (byte)42},
                    {"bytearray", new byte[]{ 0x1, 0x2, 0x3}}
                }
            };

            string serializedOne = JsonConvert.SerializeObject(instance);

            var col = new MongoClient("mongodb://localhost:27017").GetDatabase("test").GetCollection<DTO>("test");
            col.InsertOne(serializedOne);
            Console.WriteLine(serializedOne);
            Console.ReadKey();
        }
    }
}

PS: I'm not a MongoDB expert and I remember that I was succesfully done an operation in past something like that.

Newtonsoft.JSON Official Page: http://www.newtonsoft.com/json

Newtonsoft.JSON NuGet Page: https://www.nuget.org/packages/Newtonsoft.Json/

Hope this helps you