JSON.Net - Use JsonIgnoreAttribute only on serialization (But not when deserialzing)

Question

We\'re using JSON.net and want to use a consistent way to send and receive data (documents).

We want a base class that all documents will be derived from. The base c

Answer 1

Use the ShouldSerialize feature provided by Json.Net. So basically, your class will look like:

public abstract class JsonDocument
{
    /// 

    /// The document type that the concrete class expects to be deserialized from.
    /// 
    //[JsonProperty(PropertyName = "DocumentType")] // We substitute the DocumentType property with this ExpectedDocumentType property when serializing derived types.
    public abstract string ExpectedDocumentType { get; }

    /// 

    /// The actual document type that was provided in the JSON that the concrete class was deserialized from.
    /// 
    public string DocumentType { get; set; }

    //Tells json.net to not serialize DocumentType, but allows DocumentType to be deserialized
    public bool ShouldSerializeDocumentType()
    {
        return false;
    }
}