Deserialize the JSON where the values are field names with JSON.NET

Question

I have a very undesirable situation which requires me to deserialize the JSON where the values are field names with JSON.NET. Assuming that I have the following JSON which i

Answer 1

You can create a custom JsonConverter which serializes/deserializes Role[]. You can then decorate your Roles property with the JsonConverterAttribute like this:

public class User
{
    public string Name { get; set; }
    [JsonConverter(typeof(RolesConverter))]
    public Role[] Roles { get; set; }
}

In your converter class you are able to read an object and return an array instead. Your converter class may look like this:

class RolesConverter : JsonConverter
{
    public override bool CanConvert(Type objectType)
    {
        return objectType == typeof(Role[]);
    }

    public override object ReadJson(JsonReader reader, Type objectType, object existingValue, JsonSerializer serializer)
    {
        // deserialize as object
        var roles = serializer.Deserialize(reader);
        var result = new List();

        // create an array out of the properties
        foreach (JProperty property in roles.Properties())
        {
            var role = property.Value.ToObject();
            role.Id = int.Parse(property.Name);
            result.Add(role);
        }

        return result.ToArray();
    }


    public override void WriteJson(JsonWriter writer, object value, JsonSerializer serializer)
    {
        throw new NotImplementedException();
    }
}