WCF and ResponseFormat = WebMessageFormat.Json with inherited classes - json

Question

I have run into another issue that apparently deals with inherited classes:
I have for instance this super class.
public class Person
{
public string Firstname { get; set; }
public string Lastname { get; set; }
public string Email { get; set; }
}
And then a sub class:
public class Member : Person
{
public int MembershipId { get; set; }
public string Password { get; set; }
public List<Foo> Foos { get; set; }
}
When I return a Member with the following code, I get nothing useful:
[OperationContract]
[WebGet(ResponseFormat = WebMessageFormat.Json, BodyStyle = WebMessageBodyStyle.WrappedRequest)]
public Member GetMember()
{
return new Member
{
Firstname = "Jane",
Lastname = "Doe",
Email = "jane.doe#doe.com",
MembershipId = 10,
Password = "*****",
Foos = new List<Foo> { };
};
}
Classes / objects that are not inherited are serialized and returned in json format without any problems.
Is there anyway to get my Member object returned correctly, please? I have been messing with this issue and my conclusion was that it must have something to do with inherited classes and json.

Answer 1

try this fix
[DataContract]
public class Person
{
[DataMember]
public string Firstname { get; set; }
[DataMember]
public string Lastname { get; set; }
[DataMember]
public string Email { get; set; }
}
[DataContract]
public class Member : Person
{
[DataMember]
public string MembershipId { get; set; }
[DataMember]
public string Password { get; set; }
[DataMember]
public List<Foo> Foos { get; set; }
}

Answer 2

Actually my theory about inherited classes and JSON serialization was flawed.
It works and I do not need the [Datacontrac] and [Datamember] decorators. Something else is wrong. Perhaps my structure is too deep and too lenghty.
I wonder whether JSON has some limits regarding size.

Answer 3

I ended using JSON.net from Newtonsoft. I would recommend to use that instead of wasting time on the native json feature in .net.
http://json.codeplex.com/