Deserialization of self-referencing properties does not work

Question

I have this object with a Parent property that reference another object of the same type:

[JsonObject(IsReference = true)]
class Group
{
    public strin         


        

Answer 1

To expand on James's answer, you can fix this issue by providing a parameterless (default) constructor for Json.Net to use. It can be private if you want, so long as you also mark it with a [JsonConstructor] attribute.

[JsonObject(IsReference = true)]
class Group
{
    ...

    [JsonConstructor]
    private Group()
    {
    }

    public Group(string name)
    {
        Name = name;
        Children = new List();
    }

    ...
}

This arrangement allows Json.Net to create the object without needing all the information up front; it can then use the public properties to fill things in afterward.

Fiddle: https://dotnetfiddle.net/QfqV43