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How to serialize properties of derived classes with System.Text.Json

  • Article
  • 5 minutes to read

In this article, you will learn how to serialize properties of derived classes with the System.Text.Json namespace.

Serialize properties of derived classes

Serialization of a polymorphic type hierarchy is not supported. For example, if a property is defined as an interface or an abstract class, only the properties defined on the interface or abstract class are serialized, even if the runtime type has additional properties. The exceptions to this behavior are explained in this section.

For example, suppose you have a WeatherForecast class and a derived class WeatherForecastDerived:

public class WeatherForecast
{
    public DateTimeOffset Date { get; set; }
    public int TemperatureCelsius { get; set; }
    public string? Summary { get; set; }
}

Public Class WeatherForecast
    Public Property [Date] As DateTimeOffset
    Public Property TemperatureCelsius As Integer
    Public Property Summary As String
End Class

public class WeatherForecastDerived : WeatherForecast
{
    public int WindSpeed { get; set; }
}

Public Class WeatherForecastDerived
    Inherits WeatherForecast
    Public Property WindSpeed As Integer
End Class

And suppose the type argument of the Serialize method at compile time is WeatherForecast:

var options = new JsonSerializerOptions
{
    WriteIndented = true
};
jsonString = JsonSerializer.Serialize<WeatherForecast>(weatherForecast, options);

Dim options As JsonSerializerOptions = New JsonSerializerOptions With {
    .WriteIndented = True
}
jsonString = JsonSerializer.Serialize(weatherForecast1, options)

In this scenario, the WindSpeed property is not serialized even if the weatherForecast object is actually a WeatherForecastDerived object. Only the base class properties are serialized:

{
  "Date": "2019-08-01T00:00:00-07:00",
  "TemperatureCelsius": 25,
  "Summary": "Hot"
}

This behavior is intended to help prevent accidental exposure of data in a derived runtime-created type.

To serialize the properties of the derived type in the preceding example, use one of the following approaches:

  • Call an overload of Serialize that lets you specify the type at run time:

    options = new JsonSerializerOptions
{
    WriteIndented = true
};
jsonString = JsonSerializer.Serialize(weatherForecast, weatherForecast.GetType(), options);

    options = New JsonSerializerOptions With {
    .WriteIndented = True
}
jsonString = JsonSerializer.Serialize(weatherForecast1, weatherForecast1.[GetType](), options)

  • Declare the object to be serialized as object.

    options = new JsonSerializerOptions
{
    WriteIndented = true
};
jsonString = JsonSerializer.Serialize<object>(weatherForecast, options);

    options = New JsonSerializerOptions With {
    .WriteIndented = True
}
jsonString = JsonSerializer.Serialize(Of Object)(weatherForecast1, options)

In the preceding example scenario, both approaches cause the WindSpeed property to be included in the JSON output:

{
  "WindSpeed": 35,
  "Date": "2019-08-01T00:00:00-07:00",
  "TemperatureCelsius": 25,
  "Summary": "Hot"
}

Important

These approaches provide polymorphic serialization only for the root object to be serialized, not for properties of that root object.

You can get polymorphic serialization for lower-level objects if you define them as type object. For example, suppose your WeatherForecast class has a property named PreviousForecast that can be defined as type WeatherForecast or object:

public class WeatherForecastWithPrevious
{
    public DateTimeOffset Date { get; set; }
    public int TemperatureCelsius { get; set; }
    public string? Summary { get; set; }
    public WeatherForecast? PreviousForecast { get; set; }
}

Public Class WeatherForecastWithPrevious
    Public Property [Date] As DateTimeOffset
    Public Property TemperatureCelsius As Integer
    Public Property Summary As String
    Public Property PreviousForecast As WeatherForecast
End Class

public class WeatherForecastWithPreviousAsObject
{
    public DateTimeOffset Date { get; set; }
    public int TemperatureCelsius { get; set; }
    public string? Summary { get; set; }
    public object? PreviousForecast { get; set; }
}

Public Class WeatherForecastWithPreviousAsObject
    Public Property [Date] As DateTimeOffset
    Public Property TemperatureCelsius As Integer
    Public Property Summary As String
    Public Property PreviousForecast As Object
End Class

If the PreviousForecast property contains an instance of WeatherForecastDerived:

  • The JSON output from serializing WeatherForecastWithPrevious doesn't include WindSpeed.
  • The JSON output from serializing WeatherForecastWithPreviousAsObject includes WindSpeed.

To serialize WeatherForecastWithPreviousAsObject, it isn't necessary to call Serialize<object> or GetType because the root object isn't the one that may be of a derived type. The following code example doesn't call Serialize<object> or GetType:

options = new JsonSerializerOptions
{
    WriteIndented = true
};
jsonString = JsonSerializer.Serialize(weatherForecastWithPreviousAsObject, options);

options = New JsonSerializerOptions With {
    .WriteIndented = True
}
jsonString = JsonSerializer.Serialize(weatherForecastWithPreviousAsObject1, options)

The preceding code correctly serializes WeatherForecastWithPreviousAsObject:

{
  "Date": "2019-08-01T00:00:00-07:00",
  "TemperatureCelsius": 25,
  "Summary": "Hot",
  "PreviousForecast": {
    "WindSpeed": 35,
    "Date": "2019-08-01T00:00:00-07:00",
    "TemperatureCelsius": 25,
    "Summary": "Hot"
  }
}

The same approach of defining properties as object works with interfaces. Suppose you have the following interface and implementation, and you want to serialize a class with properties that contain implementation instances:

namespace SystemTextJsonSamples
{
    public interface IForecast
    {
        public DateTimeOffset Date { get; set; }
        public int TemperatureCelsius { get; set; }
        public string? Summary { get; set; }
    }

    public class Forecast : IForecast
    {
        public DateTimeOffset Date { get; set; }
        public int TemperatureCelsius { get; set; }
        public string? Summary { get; set; }
        public int WindSpeed { get; set; }
    }

    public class Forecasts
    {
        public IForecast? Monday { get; set; }
        public object? Tuesday { get; set; }
    }
}

Namespace SystemTextJsonSamples

    Public Interface IForecast
        Property [Date] As DateTimeOffset
        Property TemperatureCelsius As Integer
        Property Summary As String
    End Interface

    Public Class Forecast
        Implements IForecast
        Public Property [Date] As DateTimeOffset Implements IForecast.[Date]
        Public Property TemperatureCelsius As Integer Implements IForecast.TemperatureCelsius
        Public Property Summary As String Implements IForecast.Summary
        Public Property WindSpeed As Integer
    End Class

    Public Class Forecasts
        Public Property Monday As IForecast
        Public Property Tuesday As Object
    End Class

End Namespace

When you serialize an instance of Forecasts, only Tuesday shows the WindSpeed property, because Tuesday is defined as object:

var forecasts = new Forecasts
{
    Monday = new Forecast
    {
        Date = DateTime.Parse("2020-01-06"),
        TemperatureCelsius = 10,
        Summary = "Cool",
        WindSpeed = 8
    },
    Tuesday = new Forecast
    {
        Date = DateTime.Parse("2020-01-07"),
        TemperatureCelsius = 11,
        Summary = "Rainy",
        WindSpeed = 10
    }
};

options = new JsonSerializerOptions
{
    WriteIndented = true
};
jsonString = JsonSerializer.Serialize(forecasts, options);

Dim forecasts1 As New Forecasts With {
    .Monday = New Forecast With {
        .[Date] = Date.Parse("2020-01-06"),
        .TemperatureCelsius = 10,
        .Summary = "Cool",
        .WindSpeed = 8
    },
    .Tuesday = New Forecast With {
        .[Date] = Date.Parse("2020-01-07"),
        .TemperatureCelsius = 11,
        .Summary = "Rainy",
        .WindSpeed = 10
    }
}

options = New JsonSerializerOptions With {
    .WriteIndented = True
}
jsonString = JsonSerializer.Serialize(forecasts1, options)

The following example shows the JSON that results from the preceding code:

{
  "Monday": {
    "Date": "2020-01-06T00:00:00-08:00",
    "TemperatureCelsius": 10,
    "Summary": "Cool"
  },
  "Tuesday": {
    "Date": "2020-01-07T00:00:00-08:00",
    "TemperatureCelsius": 11,
    "Summary": "Rainy",
    "WindSpeed": 10
  }
}

Note

This article is about serialization, not deserialization. Polymorphic deserialization is not supported, but as a workaround you can write a custom converter, such as the example in Support polymorphic deserialization.

See also