Table name in a JSON array string - json

Question

I have a list of two DataTables. I'm converting this list to a JSON array, but I need to add the table name for every DataTable in the JSON string.
How can I do that?
This is how I'm converting the list:
Dim json As String = JsonConvert.SerializeObject(list, New DataTableConverter())
Desired JSON output:
{
"category": [
{
"id": "1",
"desc": "default",
},
{
"id": "2",
"desc": "fun",
}
],
"images": [
{
"image ID": "1",
"link": "images/logo.jpg"
"category": "1"
},
{
"image ID": "2",
"link": "images/logo2.jpg"
"category": "2"
}
]
}

Answer 1

Try putting your tables into a DataSet instead of a list, then serialize the DataSet.
Dim table1 As New DataTable("category")
table1.Columns.Add("id", GetType(String))
table1.Columns.Add("desc", GetType(String))
table1.Rows.Add("1", "default")
table1.Rows.Add("2", "fun")
Dim table2 As New DataTable("images")
table2.Columns.Add("image ID", GetType(String))
table2.Columns.Add("link", GetType(String))
table2.Columns.Add("category", GetType(String))
table2.Rows.Add("1", "images/logo.jpg", "1")
table2.Rows.Add("2", "images/logo2.jpg", "2")
Dim dataSet As New DataSet()
dataSet.Tables.Add(table1)
dataSet.Tables.Add(table2)
Dim json As String = JsonConvert.SerializeObject(dataSet, Formatting.Indented)
Console.WriteLine(json)
Output:
{
"category": [
{
"id": "1",
"desc": "default"
},
{
"id": "2",
"desc": "fun"
}
],
"images": [
{
"image ID": "1",
"link": "images/logo.jpg",
"category": "1"
},
{
"image ID": "2",
"link": "images/logo2.jpg",
"category": "2"
}
]
}