Serializing a list to JSON

There are two common ways of doing that with built-in JSON serializers:

1. JavaScriptSerializer

   var serializer = new JavaScriptSerializer();
   return serializer.Serialize(TheList);
   

2. DataContractJsonSerializer

   var serializer = new DataContractJsonSerializer(TheList.GetType());
   using (var stream = new MemoryStream())
   {
       serializer.WriteObject(stream, TheList);
       using (var sr = new StreamReader(stream))
       {
           return sr.ReadToEnd();
       }
   }
   

   Note, that this option requires definition of a data contract for your class:

   [DataContract]
   public class MyObjectInJson
   {
      [DataMember]
      public long ObjectID {get;set;}
      [DataMember]
      public string ObjectInJson {get;set;}
   }
   

If using .Net Core 3.0 or later;

Default to using the built in System.Text.Json parser implementation.

e.g.

using System.Text.Json;

var json = JsonSerializer.Serialize(aList);

alternatively, other, less mainstream options are available like Utf8Json parser and Jil: These may offer superior performance, if you really need it but, you will need to install their respective packages.

If stuck using .Net Core 2.2 or earlier;

Default to using Newtonsoft JSON.Net as your first choice JSON Parser.

e.g.

using Newtonsoft.Json;

var json = JsonConvert.SerializeObject(aList);

you may need to install the package first.

PM> Install-Package Newtonsoft.Json

For more details see and upvote the answer that is the source of this information.

For reference only, this was the original answer, many years ago;

// you need to reference System.Web.Extensions

using System.Web.Script.Serialization;

var jsonSerialiser = new JavaScriptSerializer();
var json = jsonSerialiser.Serialize(aList);

You can also use Json.NET. Just download it at http://james.newtonking.com/pages/json-net.aspx, extract the compressed file and add it as a reference.

Then just serialize the list (or whatever object you want) with the following:

using Newtonsoft.Json;

string json = JsonConvert.SerializeObject(listTop10);

Update: you can also add it to your project via the NuGet Package Manager (Tools --> NuGet Package Manager --> Package Manager Console):

PM> Install-Package Newtonsoft.Json

Documentation: Serializing Collections