How to implement custom JsonConverter in JSON.NET to deserialize a List of base class objects?

Question

I am trying to extend the JSON.net example given here http://james.newtonking.com/projects/json/help/CustomCreationConverter.html

I have another sub class deriving

Answer 1

A lot of the times the implementation will exist in the same namespace as the interface. So, I came up with this:

    public class InterfaceConverter : JsonConverter
    {
    public override bool CanWrite => false;
    public override void WriteJson(JsonWriter writer, object value, JsonSerializer serializer)
    {
    }

    public override object ReadJson(JsonReader reader, Type objectType, object existingValue, JsonSerializer serializer)
    {
        var token = JToken.ReadFrom(reader);
        var typeVariable = this.GetTypeVariable(token);
        if (TypeExtensions.TryParse(typeVariable, out var implimentation))
        { }
        else if (!typeof(IEnumerable).IsAssignableFrom(objectType))
        {
            implimentation = this.GetImplimentedType(objectType);
        }
        else
        {
            var genericArgumentTypes = objectType.GetGenericArguments();
            var innerType = genericArgumentTypes.FirstOrDefault();
            if (innerType == null)
            {
                implimentation = typeof(IEnumerable);
            }
            else
            {
                Type genericType = null;
                if (token.HasAny())
                {
                    var firstItem = token[0];
                    var genericTypeVariable = this.GetTypeVariable(firstItem);
                    TypeExtensions.TryParse(genericTypeVariable, out genericType);
                }

                genericType = genericType ?? this.GetImplimentedType(innerType);
                implimentation = typeof(IEnumerable<>);
                implimentation = implimentation.MakeGenericType(genericType);
            }
        }

        return JsonConvert.DeserializeObject(token.ToString(), implimentation);
    }

    public override bool CanConvert(Type objectType)
    {
        return !typeof(IEnumerable).IsAssignableFrom(objectType) && objectType.IsInterface || typeof(IEnumerable).IsAssignableFrom(objectType) && objectType.GetGenericArguments().Any(t => t.IsInterface);
    }

    protected Type GetImplimentedType(Type interfaceType)
    {
        if (!interfaceType.IsInterface)
        {
            return interfaceType;
        }

        var implimentationQualifiedName = interfaceType.AssemblyQualifiedName?.Replace(interfaceType.Name, interfaceType.Name.Substring(1));
        return implimentationQualifiedName == null ? interfaceType : Type.GetType(implimentationQualifiedName) ?? interfaceType;
    }

    protected string GetTypeVariable(JToken token)
    {
        if (!token.HasAny())
        {
            return null;
        }

        return token.Type != JTokenType.Object ? null : token.Value("$type");
    }
}

Therefore, you can include this globally like so:

public static JsonSerializerSettings StandardSerializerSettings => new JsonSerializerSettings
    {
        Converters = new List
        {
            new InterfaceConverter()
        }
    };