Anyway to get JsonConvert.SerializeObject to ignore the JsonConverter attribute on a property?

Question

I have a class that I cannot change:

public enum MyEnum {
    Item1 = 0,
    Item2 = 1
}
public class foo {
    [JsonConverter(typeof(StringEnumConverter))]
         


        

Answer 1

This is possible, but the process is a tad involved.

The basic idea is to create a custom ContractResolver and override its CreateProperty method. Something like so:

internal sealed class MyContractResolver : DefaultContractResolver
{
    protected override JsonProperty CreateProperty( MemberInfo member, MemberSerialization memberSerialization )
    {
        var property = base.CreateProperty( member, memberSerialization );

        if( member.DeclaringType == typeof( foo ) && property.PropertyType == typeof( MyEnum ) )
        {
            property.Converter = null;
        }

        return property;
    }
}

You'll also need to actually instantiate this class and pass it into your serializer/deserializer. What that looks like depends on exactly how you're doing the serialization, so I can't guarantee a relevant example of how to use it.

If you're just using the static SerializeObject method:

JsonConvert.SerializeObject( valueToSerialize, new SerializerSettings { ContractResolver = new MyContractResolver() } );