using Newtonsoft.Json;

using System.ComponentModel;

using Newtonsoft.Json.Linq;

using System;

using System.Linq;

using System.Reflection;

​

public class Order

{

    public int Number { get; set; }

    public Package PackageType { get; set; }

    public Level Level { get; set; }

}

​

public enum Package

{

    [Description("Small Package")]

    Small,

    [Description("Medium Package")]

    Medium,

    [Description("The Big One")]

    Large

}

​

public enum Level {

    Unknown,

    Basic,

    Advanced,

    [Description("Advanced Plus")]

    AdvancedPlus

}

​

// Example usage

public class Program

{

    public static void Main()

    {

        var myOrder = new Order() { Number = 123, PackageType = Package.Large, Level = Level.AdvancedPlus };

        var settings = new JsonSerializerSettings();

        settings.Converters.Add(new EnumDescriptionConverter());

        string json = JsonConvert.SerializeObject(myOrder, settings);

        Console.WriteLine(json);

​

        //json = "{\"Number\":123,\"PackageType\":\"The Big One\",\"Level\":\"Bad Value\"}";  // throws exception

        //json = "{\"Number\":123,\"PackageType\":\"The Big One\",\"Level\":0}";  // throws exception

        //json = "{\"Number\":123,\"PackageType\":\"The Big One\",\"Level\":\"0\"}";  // throws exception

        // deserialize

        Order deserializedOrder = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<Order>(json, settings);

        Console.WriteLine("\nDeserialized Order:");

        Console.WriteLine($"Number: {deserializedOrder.Number}");

        Console.WriteLine($"PackageType: {deserializedOrder.PackageType}");

        Console.WriteLine($"Level: {deserializedOrder.Level}");

    }

}

​

​

public class EnumDescriptionConverter : JsonConverter

{

    public override bool CanConvert(Type objectType)

    {

        return objectType.IsEnum;

    }

​

    public override void WriteJson(JsonWriter writer, object value, JsonSerializer serializer)

    {

        if (value != null)

        {

            var description = GetEnumDescription((Enum)value);

            writer.WriteValue(description);

        }

        else

        {

            writer.WriteNull();

        }

    }

​

    public override object ReadJson(JsonReader reader, Type objectType, object existingValue, JsonSerializer serializer)

    {

        var enumString = reader.Value.ToString();

        foreach (var name in Enum.GetNames(objectType))

        {

            var enumValue = Enum.Parse(objectType, name);

            if (GetEnumDescription((Enum)enumValue) == enumString)

            {

                return enumValue;

            }

        }

        throw new ArgumentException($"Unknown enum description for type {objectType}");

    }

​

    private string GetEnumDescription(Enum value)

    {

        FieldInfo fi = value.GetType().GetField(value.ToString());

        DescriptionAttribute[] attributes = (DescriptionAttribute[])fi.GetCustomAttributes(typeof(DescriptionAttribute), false);

        if (attributes != null && attributes.Length > 0)

        {

            return attributes[0].Description;

        }

        else

        {

            return value.ToString();

        }

    }

}

​

​