Deserialize collection of interface-instances?

c#, json.net

Solution

Bellow full working example with what you want to do:

public interface ITestInterface
{
    string Guid { get; set; }
}

public class TestClassThatImplementsTestInterface1 : ITestInterface
{
    public string Guid { get; set; }
    public string Something1 { get; set; }
}

public class TestClassThatImplementsTestInterface2 : ITestInterface
{
    public string Guid { get; set; }
    public string Something2 { get; set; }
}

public class ClassToSerializeViaJson
{
    public ClassToSerializeViaJson()
    {
        this.CollectionToSerialize = new List<ITestInterface>();
    }
    public List<ITestInterface> CollectionToSerialize { get; set; }
}

public class TypeNameSerializationBinder : SerializationBinder
{
    public string TypeFormat { get; private set; }

    public TypeNameSerializationBinder(string typeFormat)
    {
        TypeFormat = typeFormat;
    }

    public override void BindToName(Type serializedType, out string assemblyName, out string typeName)
    {
        assemblyName = null;
        typeName = serializedType.Name;
    }

    public override Type BindToType(string assemblyName, string typeName)
    {
        var resolvedTypeName = string.Format(TypeFormat, typeName);
        return Type.GetType(resolvedTypeName, true);
    }
}

class Program
{
    static void Main()
    {
        var binder = new TypeNameSerializationBinder("ConsoleApplication.{0}, ConsoleApplication");
        var toserialize = new ClassToSerializeViaJson();

        toserialize.CollectionToSerialize.Add(
            new TestClassThatImplementsTestInterface1()
            {
                Guid = Guid.NewGuid().ToString(), Something1 = "Some1"
            });
        toserialize.CollectionToSerialize.Add(
            new TestClassThatImplementsTestInterface2()
            {
                Guid = Guid.NewGuid().ToString(), Something2 = "Some2"
            });

        string json = JsonConvert.SerializeObject(toserialize, Formatting.Indented, 
            new JsonSerializerSettings
            {
                TypeNameHandling = TypeNameHandling.Auto,
                Binder = binder
            });
        var obj = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<ClassToSerializeViaJson>(json, 
            new JsonSerializerSettings
            {
                TypeNameHandling = TypeNameHandling.Auto,
                Binder = binder 
            });

        Console.ReadLine();
    }
}

Problem

I would like to serialize this code via json.net: ``` public interface ITestInterface { string Guid {get;set;} } public class TestClassThatImplementsTestInterface1 { public string Guid { get;set; } } public class TestClassThatImplementsTestInterface2 { public string Guid { get;set; } } public class ClassToSerializeViaJson { public ClassToSerializeViaJson() { this.CollectionToSerialize = new List<ITestInterface>(); this.CollectionToSerialize.add( new TestClassThatImplementsTestInterface2() ); this.CollectionToSerialize.add( new TestClassThatImplementsTestInterface2() ); } List<ITestInterface> CollectionToSerialize { get;set; } } ``` I want to serialize/deserialize ClassToSerializeViaJson with json.net. Serialization is working, but deserialization gives me this error: Newtonsoft.Json.JsonSerializationException: Could not create an instance of type ITestInterface. Type is an interface or abstract class and cannot be instantiated. So how can I deserialize the `List<ITestInterface>` collection?

Original source

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