# JSON Serialization

h5 offers multiple ways to handle JSON data serialization and deserialization.

You can use the browser's native JSON.parse and JSON.stringify methods directly, either via Script.Write or Global.JSON.

using H5;

public static void Serialize(object obj)
{
    var json = Global.JSON.Stringify(obj);
    Console.WriteLine(json);
}

public static void Deserialize(string json)
{
    var obj = Global.JSON.Parse(json);
    Console.WriteLine(obj);
}

This is lightweight but doesn't handle complex .NET types (like DateTime, Guid, or custom classes) correctly out-of-the-box unless they are simple DTOs.

For simple data transfer objects (DTOs) that map directly to JavaScript objects, you can use the [ObjectLiteral] attribute. This instructs the compiler to treat instances of the class as plain JavaScript objects ({}) rather than full class instances with prototype chains.

[ObjectLiteral]
public class Person
{
    public string Name { get; set; }
    public int Age { get; set; }
}

var p = new Person { Name = "Alice", Age = 30 };
// Compiled to: var p = { Name: "Alice", Age: 30 };

This is extremely efficient for JSON serialization as JSON.stringify(p) works perfectly.

For full-featured JSON serialization compatible with Newtonsoft.Json (Json.NET), use the h5.Newtonsoft.Json package.

dotnet add package h5.Newtonsoft.Json

The API mirrors the standard Newtonsoft.Json API.

using Newtonsoft.Json;

public class User
{
    public string Name { get; set; }

    [JsonProperty("user_age")]
    public int Age { get; set; }
}

var user = new User { Name = "Bob", Age = 25 };
string json = JsonConvert.SerializeObject(user);
// Output: {"Name":"Bob","user_age":25}

var user2 = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<User>(json);

This supports:

• Custom property names ([JsonProperty])
• Ignoring properties ([JsonIgnore])
• Handling complex types (DateTime, Guid, TimeSpan)
• Polymorphic deserialization (TypeNameHandling)
• Custom converters (JsonConverter)

This is the recommended approach for robust applications.