How to deserialize a list of abstract items without passing converters to DeserializeObject?

Question

I've got some inheritance going, requiring a custom JsonConverter for deserialization. I'm using a very straightforward approach for now where I determine the type based on the existence of certain properties.

Important note: in my actual code I cannot touch the DeserializeObject calls, i.e. I cannot add custom convertors there. I know this is therefor to some degree an XY-problem, and realize as such my answer might be that what I want is not possible. As far as I can tell this makes my question slightly different from this question.

Here's a repro of my situation:

abstract class Mammal { }
class Cat : Mammal { public int Lives { get; set; } }
class Dog : Mammal { public bool Drools { get; set; } }
class Person
{
    [JsonConverter(typeof(PetConverter))]
    public Mammal FavoritePet { get; set; }

    [JsonConverter(typeof(PetConverter))]
    public List<Mammal> OtherPets { get; set; } 
}

And this is the custom converter:

public class PetConverter : JsonConverter
{
    public override bool CanConvert(Type objectType) { return objectType == typeof(Mammal); }
    public override bool CanWrite { get { return false; } }
    public override void WriteJson(JsonWriter writer, object value, JsonSerializer serializer) { throw new NotImplementedException(); }

    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["Drools"] != null) return jsonObject.ToObject<Dog>(serializer);
        return null;
    }
}

This works fine for the FavoritePet, but not so much for the OtherPets because it's a list. Here's a way to reproduce my problem with NUnit tests:

[TestFixture]
class MyTests
{
    [Test]
    public void CanSerializeAndDeserializeSingleItem()
    {
        var person = new Person { FavoritePet = new Cat { Lives = 9 } };
        var json = JsonConvert.SerializeObject(person);
        var actual = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<Person>(json);
        Assert.That(actual.FavoritePet, Is.InstanceOf<Cat>());
    }

    [Test]
    public void CanSerializeAndDeserializeList()
    {
        var person = new Person { OtherPets = new List<Mammal> { new Cat { Lives = 9 } } };
        var json = JsonConvert.SerializeObject(person);
        var actual = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<Person>(json);
        Assert.That(actual.OtherPets.Single(), Is.InstanceOf<Cat>());
    }
}

The latter test is red because:

Newtonsoft.Json.JsonReaderException : Error reading JObject from JsonReader. Current JsonReader item is not an object: StartArray. Path 'OtherPets', line 1, position 33.

I've also tried without the custom converter on OtherPets, which results in:

Newtonsoft.Json.JsonSerializationException : Could not create an instance of type JsonConverterLists.Mammal. Type is an interface or abstract class and cannot be instantiated. Path 'OtherPets[0].Lives', line 1, position 42.

I understand what's going on, I even know that I could fix it with:

var actual = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<Person>(json, new PetConverter());

But repeating the note from above: I can't change the DeserializeObject call as it's wrapped inside a function in a library I cannot currently change.

Is there a way to do the same with a attribute-based approach, e.g. is there a built-in converter for lists where each entry takes in a custom converter? Or do I have to roll my own, seperate converter for this too?

---

Footnote, how to reproduce:

• Visual Studio 2013 => Fresh new .NET 4.5.1 Class Library
• Install-Package Newtonsoft.Json -Version 7.0.1
• Install-Package nunit -Version 2.6.4

You can just drop the above three code blocks in your fresh namespace and run the NUnit tests, seeing the second one fail.

Answer 1

tweaked the converter class a little bit. hope it's good -

public class PetConverter : JsonConverter
{
    public override bool CanConvert(Type objectType) { return objectType == typeof(Mammal); }
    public override bool CanWrite { get { return false; } }
    public override void WriteJson(JsonWriter writer, object value, JsonSerializer serializer) { throw new NotImplementedException(); }

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

        if (reader.TokenType == JsonToken.StartArray)
        {
            var li = new List<Mammal>();
            var arr = JArray.Load(reader);
            foreach (JObject obj in arr)
            {
                if (obj["Drools"] != null)
                {
                    var k = obj.ToObject<Dog>(serializer);
                    li.Add(k);
                }
            }

            return li;
        }


        JObject jsonObject = JObject.Load(reader);
        if (jsonObject["Lives"] != null) return jsonObject.ToObject<Cat>(serializer);
        //if (jsonObject["Drools"] != null) return jsonObject.ToObject<Dog>(serializer);
        return null;
    }
}