JavaScriptSerializer value for i=3?

Question

JavaScriptSerializer oSerializer = new JavaScriptSerializer();
object i = 3;
string sJSON =  oSerializer.Serialize(i); //"3"

The JavaScriptSerializer should serialize its parameter to JSON!

And the result is "3" ( which is not JSON)

What am I missing?

edit

Ive written a mail to douglas crockford

3 is not a json object/text but json value.

so i think msdn should clarify the serialize method.

https://i.stack.imgur.com/VOh3X.png

Answer 1

As has been said many times by different people, the output you are receiving is valid JSON.

From the JSON Specification (the Introduction):

JSON can represent four primitive types (strings, numbers, booleans, and null) and two structured types (objects and arrays).

and further (Section 2.1):

A JSON value MUST be an object, array, number, or string, or one of the following three literal names:

false null true

My interpretation of specification tells me that the case you describe here is more a JSON value than a JSON object.

Answer 2

You asked it to serialise the value 3, and it did. That's exactly correct.

To be explicit: what exactly are you expecting to come out? JSON gives name-value pairs. The value "3" has no name, because the whole object is 3.

JSON is JavaScript object notation. Pass it an object, and you'll probably get what you're expecting.

You can use an anonymous type as M. Babcock suggests: new { i = 3 }.