How can I change asp.net mvc's way of formatti

Question

I have this model:

public class Person
{
    public string Name { get; set; }
    public int Age { get; set; }
    public List<Color> Colors { get; set; }
}

public class Color
{
    public int ColorId { get; set; }
    public string Name { get; set; }
}

and asp.net MVC's return Json(...) gives me this:

[{"Name":"JC","Age":24,"Colors":[{"ColorId":1,"Name":"Red"},{"ColorId":2,"Name":"Blue"}]},
{"Name":"Albert","Age":29,"Colors":[{"ColorId":2,"Name":"Blue"}]}]

when I try to return a type of: List<Person>

but I want something like this (if possible):

{"People":[{"Name":"JC","Age":24,"Colors":[{"ColorId":1,"Name":"Red"},{"ColorId":2,"Name":"Blue"}]},{"Name":"Albert","Age":83,"Colors":[{"ColorId":2,"Name":"Blue"}]}]}

MY QUESTION(S):

• How can I make C# (asp.net mvc) return JSON with a better format of something like: (note: ignore the data, my main point is for it to return with "People" as the main collection.. how should I do this? JSON.net?)

  {"People":[{"Name":"JC","Age":24,"Colors":[{"ColorId":1,"Name":"Red"},{"ColorId":2,"Name":"Blue"}]}, {"Name":"Albert","Age":83,"Colors":[{"ColorId":2,"Name":"Blue"}]}]}

• OR how can I make KNOCKOUT.JS MAPPING PLUGIN work with this type of JSON format? (for those who know knockout)

  [{"Name":"JC","Age":24,"Colors":[{"ColorId":1,"Name":"Red"},{"ColorId":2,"Name":"Blue"}]}, {"Name":"Albert","Age":29,"Colors":[{"ColorId":2,"Name":"Blue"}]}]

---

UPDATE (extra clarification/info):

this is my data, and I want to return a List

    private List<Person> _people = new List<Person>
                                        {
                                            new Person
                                                {
                                                    Name = "JC",
                                                    Age = 24,
                                                    Colors = new List<Color>
                                                                {
                                                                    Red,
                                                                    Blue,
                                                                }
                                                },
                                            new Person
                                                {
                                                    Name = "Albert",
                                                    Age = 29,
                                                    Colors = new List<Color>
                                                                {
                                                                    Blue
                                                                }
                                                }
                                        };

in a JSON format similar to this:

{"People":[{"Name":"JC","Age":24,"Colors":[{"ColorId":1,"Name":"Red"},{"ColorId":2,"Name":"Blue"}]},
{"Name":"Albert","Age":83,"Colors":[{"ColorId":2,"Name":"Blue"}]}]}

i'm just wondering if that is possible, or if not, then how can I make the knockout.js mapping plugin adapt to MVC's way of returning json?

Answer 1

You need a container since you do not want to return an array but an object with a People variable.

Something like this (using dynamic):

var jsonData = new 
            {
                People = _people 
            };
return Json(jsonData, JsonRequestBehavior.AllowGet);

Update

JSON is really simple format. Let's skip everything that you don't need to now.

• Objects: Objects in json start and end with {}. Anything in them corresponds to properties in C#.
• Arrays: Returning a IEnumerable will return an array. An array can contain other arrays, objects or simple fields.

The code above is using a dynamic object in C# and can be translated into a class looking like this:

public class MyCustomClass
{
    public IEnumerable<Person> People {get;set;}
}

Hence it's an object returning an array resulting in:

{ People: [] }

Where the {} corresponds to MyCustomClass.

Answer 2

you can return things, in for example, this way:

 var jsonData = new
            {
                Name = qry.Name,
                Age = qry.Age,
                Colors = (
                    from c in qry
                    select new
                    {
                        ColorID = c.ColorID,
                        Name = c.Name
                    }).ToArray()
            };

return Json(jsonData, JsonRequestBehavior.AllowGet);

Maybe something like that :)