Handling null objects in custom JsonConverter's ReadJson method

Question

I've got a Newtonsoft JSON.NET JsonConverter to help deserialize a property whose type is an abstract class. The gist of it looks like this:

public class PetConverter : JsonConverter
{
    public override bool CanConvert(Type objectType)
    {
        return objectType == typeof(Animal);
    }

    public override object ReadJson(JsonReader reader, Type objectType, object existingValue, JsonSerializer serializer)
    {
        JObject jsonObject = JObject.Load(reader);

        if (jsonObject["Lives"] != null) return jsonObject.ToObject<Cat>(serializer);
        if (jsonObject["StopPhrase"] != null) return jsonObject.ToObject<Parrot>(serializer);

        return null;
    }

    public override bool CanWrite { get { return false; } }

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

Here are the classes it handles:

public abstract class Animal 
{ }

public class Cat : Animal
{
    public int Lives { get; set; }
}

public class Parrot : Animal
{
    public string StopPhrase { get; set; }
}

public class Person
{
    [JsonConverter(typeof(PetConverter))]
    public Animal Pet { get; set; }
}

This works fine when deserializing a Person that has a non-null Pet. But if the Pet is null, then the ReadJson method breaks on the first line with this a JsonReaderException:

An exception of type 'Newtonsoft.Json.JsonReaderException' occurred in Newtonsoft.Json.dll but was not handled in user code

Additional information: Error reading JObject from JsonReader. Current JsonReader item is not an object: Null. Path 'Pet', line 1, position 11.

I've checked the Custom JsonConverter documentation, but it is merely about a writing converter. I've tried the following:

if (reader.Value == null) return null; // this inverts the [Test] results

But then I get:

JsonSerializationException: Additional text found in JSON string after finishing deserializing object.

For cases when the property is populated.

In short, what is the proper way to handle this situation?

---

For completeness, here are some unit tests that demonstrate the issue at hand:

[TestFixture]
public class JsonConverterTests
{
    [Test]
    public void Cat_survives_serialization_roundtrip()
    {
        var person = new Person { Pet = new Cat { Lives = 9 } };
        var serialized = JsonConvert.SerializeObject(person);
        var deserialized = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<Person>(serialized);
        Assert.That(deserialized.Pet, Is.InstanceOf<Cat>());
        Assert.That((deserialized.Pet as Cat).Lives, Is.EqualTo(9));
    }

    [Test]
    public void Parrot_survives_serialization_roundtrip()
    {
        var person = new Person { Pet = new Parrot { StopPhrase = "Lorrie!" } };
        var serialized = JsonConvert.SerializeObject(person);
        var deserialized = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<Person>(serialized);
        Assert.That(deserialized.Pet, Is.InstanceOf<Parrot>());
        Assert.That((deserialized.Pet as Parrot).StopPhrase, Is.EqualTo("Lorrie!"));
    }

    [Test]
    public void Null_property_does_not_break_converter()
    {
        var person = new Person { Pet = null };
        var serialized = JsonConvert.SerializeObject(person);
        var deserialized = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<Person>(serialized);
        Assert.That(deserialized.Pet, Is.Null);
    }
}

Answer 1

While writing the question, specifically while writing the "what have I tried" bit, I find one possible solution:

if (reader.TokenType == JsonToken.Null) return null;

I'm posting this for two reasons:

1. If it's good enough, it might help someone else with the same question.
2. I might learn of a better, competing solution from someone else's answer.

FWIW, here's the full JsonConverter for very basic handling deserialization of a property whose type is an abstract class:

public class PetConverter : JsonConverter
{
    public override bool CanConvert(Type objectType)
    {
        return objectType == typeof(Animal);
    }

    public override object ReadJson(JsonReader reader, Type objectType, object existingValue, JsonSerializer serializer)
    {
        if (reader.TokenType == JsonToken.Null) return null;

        JObject jsonObject = JObject.Load(reader);

        if (jsonObject["Lives"] != null) return jsonObject.ToObject<Cat>(serializer);
        if (jsonObject["StopPhrase"] != null) return jsonObject.ToObject<Parrot>(serializer);

        return null;
    }

    public override bool CanWrite { get { return false; } }

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