👀 Views: 1756 💬 Answers: 1 📅 Created: 2025-06-11

c# json json.net deserialization C#

I'm working with an scenario while trying to deserialize a complex JSON object into a C# class using JSON.NET (Newtonsoft.Json). The JSON structure includes optional properties that might not always be present, which is causing my deserialization process to unexpected result. The JSON I'm working with looks like this: ```json { "name": "John Doe", "age": 30, "address": { "street": "123 Main St", "city": "Anytown" }, "phoneNumbers": null } ``` And my C# classes are defined as follows: ```csharp public class Person { public string Name { get; set; } public int Age { get; set; } public Address Address { get; set; } public List<string> PhoneNumbers { get; set; } } public class Address { public string Street { get; set; } public string City { get; set; } } ``` When I attempt to deserialize the JSON string using the following code: ```csharp var json = /* JSON string */; var person = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<Person>(json); ``` I'm receiving a `JsonSerializationException` with the message: "want to deserialize the current JSON array (e.g. [1,2,3]) into type 'System.Collections.Generic.List`1[System.String]' because the type requires a JSON object (e.g. {"name":"value"}) to deserialize correctly." This is happening even when the `phoneNumbers` property is null in the JSON, and I have set the `PhoneNumbers` property to not be required. I've also tried using the `[JsonProperty(NullValueHandling = NullValueHandling.Ignore)]` attribute on the `PhoneNumbers` property, but that didn't help. How can I successfully handle this optional property so that it can be either null or an empty list without causing deserialization to unexpected result? Additionally, what are the best practices for handling such cases in JSON deserialization using JSON.NET?