C# - Web API - Serializing Enums as strings with spaces

Question

My question is simple, but a little more specific than other questions related to serializing enumerated types as strings.

Consider the following piece of code:

using Newtonsoft.Json;
using Newtonsoft.Json.Converters;

public enum MyEnum
{
    TypeOne,
    TypeTwo,
    TypeThree
}

public class Foo
{
   [JsonConverter(typeof(StringEnumConverter))]
   public MyEnum Types { get; set; }
}

When the Web API controller sends serialized Foo objects, they may look something like this:

{
    "Type" : "TypeTwo"
}

My Question: is it possible to send serialized enums as strings with spaces before each capital letter? Such a solution would produce JSON like this:

{
    "Type" : "Type Two"
}

Let me know if there's any additional information needed to solve my problem. Thanks!

EDIT:

It's preferable if the enums are only converted to strings with spaces while serializing them to JSON. I'd like to exclude spaces while using MyEnum.ToString() on the backend.

Does adding an EnumMemberAttribute [EnumMember("Type Two")] do anything? The source for StringEnumConverter on github appears to take advantage of it. — Paul Abbott
– Paul Abbott, Commented Jul 30, 2015 at 21:38
I'm not sure, but do you think using that attribute will have an effect on each MyEnum.ToString() method? — TheBrogrammer
– TheBrogrammer, Commented Jul 30, 2015 at 21:58

carlin.scott · Accepted Answer · 2017-04-04 23:41:50Z

31

Try adding EnumMember as shown below,

[JsonConverter(typeof(StringEnumConverter))]
public enum MyEnum
{
    [EnumMember(Value = "Type One")]
    TypeOne,
    [EnumMember(Value = "Type Two")]
    TypeTwo,
    [EnumMember(Value = "Type Three")]
    TypeThree
}

You may need to install a package called System.Runtime.Serialization.Primitives from Microsoft to use that.

edited Apr 4, 2017 at 23:41

carlin.scott

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answered Jul 30, 2015 at 21:42

JGV

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2 Comments

TheBrogrammer Over a year ago

This works! And to clarify my edit, this will only effect JSON serialization. Thank you!

owen gerig Over a year ago

this (stackoverflow.com/a/19768223/530933) might also be helpful. [JsonConverter(typeof(StringEnumConverter))] at the top of the enum

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