Writing a custom Json encoder

If you want to change the default Json encoder for various reasons, first you have to write a new one. To do so, you have to write a new class that implements the IJsonEncoder from the BestHTTP.SocketIO.JsonEncoders namespace. The stripped IJsonEncoder is very tiny, you have to implement only two functions:

public interface IJsonEncoder
{
	List<object> Decode(string json);
	string Encode(List<object> obj);
}

The Decode function must decode the given json string to a list of objects. Because of the nature of the Socket.IO protocol, the sent json is an array and the first element is the event’s name.

The Encode function is used to encode the data that the client wants to send to the server. The structure of this list is the same as with the Decode: the first element of the list is the event’s name, and any other elements are the user sent arguments.

And here comes a complete example using the LitJson library from the examples folder:

using LitJson;
public sealed class LitJsonEncoder : IJsonEncoder
{
	public List<object> Decode(string json)
	{
		JsonReader reader = new JsonReader(json);
		return JsonMapper.ToObject<List<object>>(reader);
	}

	public string Encode(List<object> obj)
	{
		JsonWriter writer = new JsonWriter();
		JsonMapper.ToJson(obj, writer);
		return writer.ToString();
	}
}

This class can be found in the \Best HTTP\Examples\SocketIO\SocketIO Json Encoders\LitJsonEncoder.cs and can be used without any preparation:

// Create the Socket.IO manager
Manager = new SocketManager(new Uri(address));
Manager.Encoder = new BestHTTP.SocketIO.JsonEncoders.LitJsonEncoder();

Another encoder that the plugin includes in the \Best HTTP\Examples\SocketIO\SocketIO Json Encoders\ folder is the JsonDotNetEncoder. This encoder uses JSON .NET For Unity and before using it the comment start and end (/* */) must be removed to look like this:

#if !BESTHTTP_DISABLE_SOCKETIO

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;

namespace BestHTTP.SocketIO.JsonEncoders
{
    using Newtonsoft.Json;

    /// <summary>
    /// This class uses Newtonsoft's Json encoder (JSON .NET For Unity).
    /// </summary>
    public sealed class JsonDotNetEncoder : IJsonEncoder
    {
        public List<object> Decode(string json)
        {
            return JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<List<object>>(json);
        }

        public string Encode(List<object> obj)
        {
            return JsonConvert.SerializeObject(obj);
        }
    }
}

#endif

And then can be used like this:

// Create the Socket.IO manager
Manager = new SocketManager(new Uri(address));
Manager.Encoder = new BestHTTP.SocketIO.JsonEncoders.JsonDotNetEncoder();