How can I serialize lists to JSON on mobile?

Question

I'm having difficulties serializing lists with the built in JsonUtility. I eventually figured out this just isn't possible with its limited capabilities.

As much as I'd like to use Newtonsoft, I cannot use that either because this is a mobile game, and from what I understand it doesn't work on Android or iOS.

Does anyone have any suggestions for how I can serialize my lists on mobile? I don't want to have to use hacky solutions to get these lists in and out of JSON.

Answer 1

To be able to serialize some data using Unity's built in serializer, you will have to contain your data in a class. You can't simply serialize a list as is.

Something like this should work. You can make some sort of generic class like here, if you only need to serialize lists containing different types of data:

using System.Collections.Generic;
using UnityEngine;

public class SerializationDemo : MonoBehaviour
{
    [SerializeField] List<string> yourList;

    void Start()
    {
        // Your list with some data
        yourList = new List<string> { "foo", "bar" };

        // Store your data into a container class, 
        // this can be serialized
        var data = new SaveData<string>(yourList);

        // Class contents to json using Unity's serializer
        var jsonText = JsonUtility.ToJson(data);

        // Save your json data here instead of logging it...
        // JSON: {"list":["foo","bar"]}
        Debug.Log("JSON: " + jsonText.ToString());
    }
}


[System.Serializable]
public class SaveData<T>
{
    public List<T> list;

    public SaveData(List<T> data)
    {
        this.list = data;
    }
}

Answer 2

The JSON.NET plugin for Unity officially supports "all Unity platforms including WebGL, except for WebPlayer, Windows 8.0 and Windows Phone 8.0."