In c# convert anonymous type into key/value array?

user_171742 0
Viewed 46367

I have the following anonymous type:

new {data1 = "test1", data2 = "sam", data3 = "bob"}

I need a method that will take this in, and output key value pairs in an array or dictionary.

My goal is to use this as post data in an HttpRequest so i will eventually concatenate in into the following string:

"data1=test1&data2=sam&data3=bob"
httpwebrequest anonymous-types .net c#
9 Answers

There is a built-in method of converting anonymous objects to dictionaries:

HtmlHelper.AnonymousObjectToHtmlAttributes(yourObj)

It also returns RouteValueDictionary. Note that it's static

user_25885390 
using Newtonsoft.Json;
var data = new {data1 = "test1", data2 = "sam", data3 = "bob"};
var encodedData = new FormUrlEncodedContent(JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<Dictionary<string, string>>(JsonConvert.SerializeObject(data))
user_2046470

It is too late but anyway I would add this for a more robust solution. The ones I see here have some kind of problems (like they wouldn't work right with say DateTime). For that reason, I suggest first converting to a json (Newtonsoft Json.Net):

var data = new {data1 = "test1", data2 = "sam", data3 = "bob"};

var result = string.Join("&",
            JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<Dictionary<string, string>>(
            JsonConvert.SerializeObject(data))
            .Select(x => $"{x.Key}={x.Value}")
        );
user_8949770

@kbrimington's solution makes a nice extension method - my my case returning a HtmlString

    public static System.Web.HtmlString ToHTMLAttributeString(this Object attributes)
    {
        var props = attributes.GetType().GetProperties();
        var pairs = props.Select(x => string.Format(@"{0}=""{1}""",x.Name,x.GetValue(attributes, null))).ToArray();
        return new HtmlString(string.Join(" ", pairs));
    }

I'm using it to drop arbitrary attributes into a Razor MVC view. I started with code using RouteValueDictionary and looping on the results but this is much neater.

user_1075650
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