Can System.Text.Json.JsonSerializer serialize collections on a read-only property?

Question

I'm having trouble getting the new System.Text.Json to deserialize collections stored on read-only properties.

Consider these classes:

public class SomeItem {
    public string Label { get; set; }
}

public class SomeObjectWithItems {

    public string Label { get; set; }

    // Note this property is read-only but the collection it points to is read/write
    public ObservableCollection<SomeItem> Items { get; }
        = new ObservableCollection<SomeItem>();
}

Here's the JSON:

{
  "Label": "First Set",
  "Items": [
    {
      "Label": "Item 1"
    },
    {
      "Label": "Item 2"
    },
    {
      "Label": "Item 3"
    },
    {
      "Label": "Item 4"
    }
  ]
}

Here's the code I'm running...

var json = ...;
var obj = JsonSerializer.deserialize<SomeObjectWithItems>(json);
Debug.WriteLine($"Item Count for '{obj.label}': {obj.Items.Count}");  

The above outputs the following:

Item Count for 'First Set': 0

If I change Items to be read/write, then it works, but so many of our models have read-only properties that hold mutable collections so I'm wondering if we can even use this.

Note: Json.NET handles this correctly, internally calling the 'Add' method on the existing collection rather than creating a new one, but I don't know how to achieve that outside of writing custom converters for all the classes we have defined.

Answer 1

This is by design for collections that don't have a setter. To avoid issues with adding to pre-populated collections (that the serializer doesn't instantiate) the deserializer uses "replace" semantics which requires the collection to have a setter.

Source: https://github.com/dotnet/corefx/issues/41433

There is currently an open issue for Support adding to collections if no setter

https://github.com/dotnet/corefx/issues/39477

My recommendation is continue to use Json.NET in this case unless you want to write a custom converter.

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/standard/serialization/system-text-json-converters-how-to?pivots=dotnet-5-0

Custom converter from GitHub, not tested this myself:

class MagicConverter : JsonConverterFactory
{
    public override bool CanConvert(Type typeToConvert) =>
        !typeToConvert.IsAbstract &&
        typeToConvert.GetConstructor(Type.EmptyTypes) != null &&
        typeToConvert
            .GetProperties()
            .Where(x => !x.CanWrite)
            .Where(x => x.PropertyType.IsGenericType)
            .Select(x => new
            {
                Property = x,
                CollectionInterface = x.PropertyType.GetGenericInterfaces(typeof(ICollection<>)).FirstOrDefault()
            })
            .Where(x => x.CollectionInterface != null)
            .Any();

    public override JsonConverter CreateConverter(Type typeToConvert, JsonSerializerOptions options) => (JsonConverter)Activator.CreateInstance(typeof(SuperMagicConverter<>).MakeGenericType(typeToConvert))!;

    class SuperMagicConverter<T> : JsonConverter<T> where T : new()
    {
        readonly Dictionary<string, (Type PropertyType, Action<T, object>? Setter, Action<T, object>? Adder)> PropertyHandlers;
        public SuperMagicConverter()
        {
            PropertyHandlers = typeof(T)
                .GetProperties()
                .Select(x => new
                {
                    Property = x,
                    CollectionInterface = !x.CanWrite && x.PropertyType.IsGenericType ? x.PropertyType.GetGenericInterfaces(typeof(ICollection<>)).FirstOrDefault() : null
                })
                .Select(x =>
                {
                    var tParam = Expression.Parameter(typeof(T));
                    var objParam = Expression.Parameter(typeof(object));
                    Action<T, object>? setter = null;
                    Action<T, object>? adder = null;
                    Type? propertyType = null;
                    if (x.Property.CanWrite)
                    {
                        propertyType = x.Property.PropertyType;
                        setter = Expression.Lambda<Action<T, object>>(
                            Expression.Assign(
                                Expression.Property(tParam, x.Property),
                                Expression.Convert(objParam, propertyType)),
                            tParam,
                            objParam)
                            .Compile();
                    }
                    else
                    {
                        if (x.CollectionInterface != null)
                        {
                            propertyType = x.CollectionInterface.GetGenericArguments()[0];
                            adder = Expression.Lambda<Action<T, object>>(
                                Expression.Call(
                                    Expression.Property(tParam, x.Property),
                                    x.CollectionInterface.GetMethod("Add"),
                                    Expression.Convert(objParam, propertyType)),
                                tParam,
                                objParam)
                                .Compile();
                        }
                    }
                    return new
                    {
                        x.Property.Name,
                        setter,
                        adder,
                        propertyType
                    };
                })
                .Where(x => x.propertyType != null)
                .ToDictionary(x => x.Name, x => (x.propertyType!, x.setter, x.adder));
        }
        public override void Write(Utf8JsonWriter writer, T value, JsonSerializerOptions options) => throw new NotImplementedException();
        public override T Read(ref Utf8JsonReader reader, Type typeToConvert, JsonSerializerOptions options)
        {
            var item = new T();
            while (reader.Read())
            {
                if (reader.TokenType == JsonTokenType.EndObject)
                {
                    break;
                }
                if (reader.TokenType == JsonTokenType.PropertyName)
                {
                    if (PropertyHandlers.TryGetValue(reader.GetString(), out var handler))
                    {
                        if (!reader.Read())
                        {
                            throw new JsonException($"Bad JSON");
                        }
                        if (handler.Setter != null)
                        {
                            handler.Setter(item, JsonSerializer.Deserialize(ref reader, handler.PropertyType, options));
                        }
                        else
                        {
                            if (reader.TokenType == JsonTokenType.StartArray)
                            {
                                while (true)
                                {
                                    if (!reader.Read())
                                    {
                                        throw new JsonException($"Bad JSON");
                                    }
                                    if (reader.TokenType == JsonTokenType.EndArray)
                                    {
                                        break;
                                    }
                                    handler.Adder!(item, JsonSerializer.Deserialize(ref reader, handler.PropertyType, options));
                                }
                            }
                            else
                            {
                                reader.Skip();
                            }
                        }
                    }
                    else
                    {
                        reader.Skip();
                    }
                }
            }
            return item;
        }
    }
}

Usage:

var options = new JsonSerializerOptions { Converters = { new MagicConverter() } };

var adsfsdf = System.Text.Json.JsonSerializer.Deserialize<Grrrr>("{\"Meow\":[1,2,3]}", options);
var adsfsdf2 = System.Text.Json.JsonSerializer.Deserialize<Grrrr>("{\"Meow\":null}", options);
var adsfsdf3 = System.Text.Json.JsonSerializer.Deserialize<Grrrr>("{\"Meow\":[1,2,3],\"Rawr\":\"asdf\"}", options);
var adsfsdf4 = System.Text.Json.JsonSerializer.Deserialize<Grrrr>("{\"Meow\":[1,2,3],\"Rawr\":null}", options);
var adsfsdf5 = System.Text.Json.JsonSerializer.Deserialize<Grrrr>("{\"Meow\":[1,2,3],\"Rawr\":\"asdf\",\"SubGrr\":{\"Meow\":[1,2,3],\"Rawr\":\"asdf\"}}", options);

Source:

https://github.com/dotnet/runtime/issues/30258#issuecomment-564847072