A JsonConverter (for Newtonsoft's JSON.NET) that respects the Name property of DataMember attributes applied to enumeration members, falling back to the enumeration member name where no DataMember attribute exists (or where a name has not been supplied)

DataMemberAwareEnumJsonConverter

/// <summary>
/// A JsonConverter that respects the Name property of DataMember attributes
/// applied to enumeration members, falling back to the enumeration member
/// name where no DataMember attribute exists (or where a name has not
/// been supplied). Entirely experimental, use at your own risk.
/// 
/// Paul O'Neill, [email protected], 31/07/13
/// </summary>
public class DataMemberAwareEnumJsonConverter : JsonConverter
{
    private static Dictionary<Type, IEnumerable<Tuple<object, string>>> _typeNameCache = 
        new Dictionary<Type, IEnumerable<Tuple<object, string>>>();

    public override bool CanConvert(Type objectType)
    {
        return objectType.IsEnum;
    }

    public override object ReadJson(JsonReader reader, Type type, object existingValue, JsonSerializer serializer)
    {
        return GetOutputValue(reader.Value.ToString(), type);
    }

    public override void WriteJson(JsonWriter writer, object value, JsonSerializer serializer)
    {
        serializer.Serialize(writer, GetOutputName(value));
    }

    private static string GetOutputName(object value)
    {
        Type type = value.GetType();
        if (!type.IsEnum)
        {
            throw new InvalidOperationException("Type is not an enumeration");
        }

        var map = GetOutputMap(type);
        var match = map.FirstOrDefault(x => x.Item1.Equals(value));
        if (match != null)
        {
            return match.Item2;
        }
        else
        {
            // We're buggered if this is a flags enum so just return the string representation
            return value.ToString();
        }
    }

    private static object GetOutputValue(string serialised, Type type)
    {            
        if (!type.IsEnum)
        {
            throw new InvalidOperationException("Type is not an enumeration");
        }

        var map = GetOutputMap(type);
        var match = map.FirstOrDefault(x => x.Item2.Equals(serialised));
        if (match != null)
        {
            // Immediate hit, just use it
            return match.Item1;
        }
        else
        {
            // No hit, which suggests a straight Enum.Parse should work 
            // (or fail because we've been supplied nonsense)
            return Enum.Parse(type, serialised);
        }
    }

    private static IEnumerable<Tuple<object, string>> GetOutputMap(Type type)
    {
        IEnumerable<Tuple<object, string>> enumOutputLookup = null;
        if (!_typeNameCache.TryGetValue(type, out enumOutputLookup))
        {
            // Index the type naively - it's unlikely we'll have more than a handful of
            // enum values per type
            List<Tuple<object, string>> outputNames = new List<Tuple<object, string>>();
            foreach (var field in type.GetFields(BindingFlags.Static | BindingFlags.Public))
            {
                var dataMemberAttribute = Attribute.GetCustomAttribute(field, typeof(DataMemberAttribute)) as DataMemberAttribute;
                if (dataMemberAttribute != null && !string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(dataMemberAttribute.Name))
                {
                    outputNames.Add(new Tuple<object, string>(field.GetValue(null), dataMemberAttribute.Name));
                }
                else
                {
                    // No attribute, so go with the string representation of the field
                    outputNames.Add(new Tuple<object, string>(field.GetValue(null), field.Name));
                }
            }

            enumOutputLookup = outputNames;
            _typeNameCache[type] = outputNames;
        }

        return enumOutputLookup;
    }
}