Deserialize JSON to multiple properties

Question

I am programming against a third party API which returns JSON data, but the format can be a little strange. Certain properties can either be an object (which contains an Id

Answer 1

Try this (extend it with some thorough validation if you'll be using it in your code):

public class MyObject
{
    public ChildObject MyChildObject;
    public string MyChildObjectId;

    [JsonProperty("ChildObject")]
    public object ChildObject
    {
        get
        {
            return MyChildObject;
        }
        set
        {
            if (value is JObject)
            {
                MyChildObject = ((JToken)value).ToObject();
                MyChildObjectId = MyChildObject.Id;
            }
            else
            {
                MyChildObjectId = value.ToString();
                MyChildObject = null;
            }
        }
    }
}