Table of Contents

Class StringEnumConverter

Namespace
Cuemon.Extensions.Text.Json.Converters
Assembly
Cuemon.Extensions.Text.Json.dll

Converter to convert enums to and from strings.

public class StringEnumConverter : JsonConverterFactory
Inheritance
StringEnumConverter
Inherited Members
Extension Methods

Examples

StringEnumConverter serializes and deserializes non-flags enum values as their string names rather than underlying integer values in System.Text.Json. This example creates JsonSerializerOptions with CamelCase naming policy and adds the converter, then serializes an anonymous object with DayOfWeek.Friday and UriKind.Relative. The JSON output shows "friday" and "relative" instead of numeric values like 5 or 2. Deserializing the JSON back into a typed Payload object confirms that the string values round-trip correctly to the original enum members, with restored.Day output as Friday.

using System;
using System.Text.Json;
using Cuemon.Extensions.Text.Json.Converters;

namespace MyApp.Examples;

public class StringEnumConverterExample
{
    public void Demonstrate()
    {
        var options = new JsonSerializerOptions
        {
            PropertyNamingPolicy = JsonNamingPolicy.CamelCase
        };
        options.Converters.Add(new StringEnumConverter());

        var payload = new { Day = DayOfWeek.Friday, Status = UriKind.Relative };

        string json = JsonSerializer.Serialize(payload, options);
        Console.WriteLine(json);
        // { "day": "Friday", "status": "Relative" }

        var restored = JsonSerializer.Deserialize<Payload>(json, options);
        Console.WriteLine(restored.Day); // Friday
    }

    public class Payload
    {
        public DayOfWeek Day { get; set; }
        public UriKind Status { get; set; }
    }
}

Constructors

StringEnumConverter()

Initializes a new instance of the StringEnumConverter class.

public StringEnumConverter()

Methods

CanConvert(Type)

Determines whether the type can be converted.

public override bool CanConvert(Type typeToConvert)

Parameters

typeToConvert Type

The type is checked whether it can be converted.

Returns

bool

true if the type can be converted, false otherwise.

CreateConverter(Type, JsonSerializerOptions)

Creates a converter for a specified typeToConvert.

public override JsonConverter CreateConverter(Type typeToConvert, JsonSerializerOptions options)

Parameters

typeToConvert Type

The Type being converted.

options JsonSerializerOptions

The JsonSerializerOptions being used.

Returns

JsonConverter

An instance of a JsonConverter<T> where T is compatible with typeToConvert. If null is returned, a NotSupportedException will be thrown.

Remarks

This is an insane reflection implementation due to, IMO, odd design choice by Microsoft (why have separate namingPolicy when PropertyNamingPolicy is already part of options). Personally I like the NamingStrategy found in Newtonsoft.Json better.

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