Is there a better way to output a javascript array from ASP.net?

Question

I often run into the problem of producing a javascript array on an ASP.net page from an IEnumerable and I was wondering if there was an easier or clearer way to do it than

<% bool firstItem = true;
   foreach(var item in items){
      if(firstItem)
      {
         firstItem = false;
      }
      else
      {%>
        ,
      <%}%>
     '<%:item%>'
  %>

The whole thing is made much more verbose because of IE's inability to handle a hanging comma in an array or object.

Answer 1

With a bit of help from System.Linq this becomes quite easy.

var array = [ <%= 
    string.Join(",", items.Select(v => "'" + v.ToString() + "'").ToArray())  
%> ];

Answer 2

Use the JavaScriptSerializer from System.Web.Extensions

<%: new JavaScriptSerializer().Serialize(items) %>

Answer 3

You can use an anonymous class and DataContractJsonSerializer and do something like this:

var toSerialize = items.Select(x => new { JSProp = x.ItemProp }).ToList();

var serializer = new DataContractJsonSerializer(toSerialize.GetType());
MemoryStream ms = new MemoryStream();
serializer.WriteObject(ms, myPerson);
string json = Encoding.Default.GetString(ms.ToArray());

I like this approach because you can create complex javascript types in a simply way.

Sorry if it does not compile but I'm not with a dev machine.