.NET 5 Allow or Write Numbers in Quotes

Some serializers encode numbers as JSON strings (surrounded by quotes).

For example:

{
    "Age": "40"
}

Instead of:

{
    "Age": 40
}

To serialize numbers in quotes or accept numbers in quotes across the entire input object graph, set JsonSerializerOptions.NumberHandling, as shown below.

public class Customer
{
    public string Name { get; init; }
    public int Age { get; set; }
    public string Address { get; set; }
}

public static void Example()
{
    Customer customer = new()
    {
        Name = "Mark",
        Age = 40,
        Address = "22 Ashdown"
    };

    JsonSerializerOptions options = new()
    {
        NumberHandling = JsonNumberHandling.AllowReadingFromString | JsonNumberHandling.WriteAsString,
        WriteIndented = true
    };

    string customerJson = JsonSerializer.Serialize<Customer>(customer, options);

    Console.WriteLine($"Output JSON:\n{customerJson}");

    Customer customerDeserialized = JsonSerializer.Deserialize<Customer>(customerJson, options);

    Console.WriteLine($"Name: {customerDeserialized.Name}");
    Console.WriteLine($"Age: {customerDeserialized.Age}");
    Console.WriteLine($"Address: {customerDeserialized.Address}");
}

The above example will print the following output.

Output JSON:
{
  "Name": "Mark",
  "Age": "40",
  "Address": "22 Ashdown"
}
Name: Mark
Age: 40
Address: 22 Ashdown

When you use System.Text.Json indirectly through ASP.NET Core, quoted numbers are allowed when deserializing because ASP.NET Core specifies web default options.

To allow or write quoted numbers for specific properties, fields, or types, use the [JsonNumberHandling] attribute.