Build table programmatically for export to/import from JSON?

Question

I am using EntityFramework, C# and MVC to build a web app. I need to create a dynamic table in RAM like this

COL1 | COL2 | COL3... etc. 1 | Val | Val 2 | Val | Val I then need to be able to read/write it to JSON in the following format:

[
{id:1, COL1: "Val", COL2: "Val", COL3: "Val" },
{id:2, COL1: "Val", COL2: "Val", COL3: "Val" }
];

I need to be able to read and write the table to this format, dynamically add columns and rows easily.

I have tried using DataTable but that causes this error when it serializes:

Error: A circular reference was detected while serializing an object of type 'System.Reflection.RuntimeModule'.

Any recommendations would be appreciated.

EDIT: This is the code I used to build the table that causes the error, even when using JSON.NET serialization:

DataTable datatable = new DataTable();

datatable.Columns.Add("DBID");
datatable.Columns.Add("ROW");
datatable.Columns.Add("ID");

DataRow row = datatable.NewRow();
row["DBID"] = "Test";
row["ROW"] = "Test";
row["ID"] = "Test";
datatable.Rows.Add(row);

string json = JsonConvert.SerializeObject(datatable, Formatting.Indented); // <- Error here

return Content(json, "application/json");

EDIT 2 - SOLUTION:

string json = JsonConvert.SerializeObject(datatable, Formatting.Indented,
                new JsonSerializerSettings()
                {
                    ReferenceLoopHandling = ReferenceLoopHandling.Ignore,
                    PreserveReferencesHandling = PreserveReferencesHandling.None
                }
            );

Thanks alan and T.S. for pointing me in the right direction and everyone else who answered!

Answer 1

As mentioned in many other posts, you can always add a reference to JSON.NET which exposes the method below:

var json = JsonConvert.SerializeObject(dataTableToConvertToJSON, 
                                       Formatting.Indented);

Update:

Try this code instead. It should take care of the error you're getting:

var dataTableToConvertToJSON = JsonConvert.SerializeObject(dataTableToConvertToJSON, 
                        Formatting.Indented,
                        new JsonSerializerSettings
                        {
                           ReferenceLoopHandling = ReferenceLoopHandling.Ignore
                        });

To return the Json as a string use this:

return json;

To return a Json object use this:

return Json(dataTableToConvertToJSON, JsonRequestBehavior.AllowGet);