serializing only parts of an object with json - asp.net

Question

I have an object called MyObject that has several properties. MyList is a list of MyObject that I populate with a linq query and then I serialize MyList into json. I end up with something like this
List<MyObject> MyList = new List<MyObject>();
MyList = TheLinqQuery(TheParam);
var TheJson = new System.Web.Script.Serialization.JavaScriptSerializer();
string MyJson = TheJson.Serialize(MyList);
What I want to do is serialize only parts of MyObject. For instance, I might have Property1, Property2...Propertyn and I want MyJson to only include Property3, Property5 and Property8.
I thought of a way to do this by creating a new object with only the properties I want and from there create a new list for the serialization. Is this the best way or is there a better/faster way?
Thanks.

Answer 1

// simple dummy object just showing what "MyObject" could potentially be
public class MyObject
{
public String Property1;
public String Property2;
public String Property3;
public String Property4;
public String Property5;
public String Property6;
}
// custom converter that tells the serializer what to do when it sees one of
// the "MyObject" types. Use our custom method instead of reflection and just
// dumping properties.
public class MyObjectConverter : JavaScriptConverter
{
public override object Deserialize(IDictionary<string, object> dictionary, Type type, JavaScriptSerializer serializer)
{
throw new ApplicationException("Serializable only");
}
public override IDictionary<string, object> Serialize(object obj, JavaScriptSerializer serializer)
{
// create a variable we can push the serailized results to
Dictionary<string, object> result = new Dictionary<string, object>();
// grab the instance of the object
MyObject myobj = obj as MyObject;
if (myobj != null)
{
// only serailize the properties we want
result.Add("Property1", myobj.Property1);
result.Add("Property3", myobj.Property3);
result.Add("Property5", myobj.Property5);
}
// return those results
return result;
}
public override IEnumerable<Type> SupportedTypes
{
// let the serializer know we can accept your "MyObject" type.
get { return new Type[] { typeof(MyObject) }; }
}
}
And then where ever you're serializing:
// create an instance of the serializer
JavaScriptSerializer serializer = new JavaScriptSerializer();
// register our new converter so the serializer knows how to handle our custom object
serializer.RegisterConverters(new JavaScriptConverter[] { new MyObjectConverter() });
// and get the results
String result = serializer.Serialize(MyObjectInstance);