How to Deserialize a Property in JSON Without Serializing It Back Using Json.net?

Use Json.net to deserialize properties without serializing them back

Json.net allows you to control the serialization and deserialization process of C# object properties. This article explores a scenario where you want to deserialize a specific property from a JSON file, but not serialize it back to the JSON file. Here are some ways to achieve this:

Method 1: Use ShouldSerialize method

Json.net supports conditional serialization using the ShouldSerialize method. For properties that you wish to ignore during serialization, add a Boolean ShouldSerializeBlah() method to your class, where Blah is the property name. This method should always return false.

For example:

<code class="language-csharp">class Config
{
    public Fizz ObsoleteSetting { get; set; }

    public Bang ReplacementSetting { get; set; }

    public bool ShouldSerializeObsoleteSetting()
    {
        return false;
    }
}</code>

Method 2: Use JObject to operate JSON

You can deserialize configuration objects to JObject instead of relying on JsonConvert.SerializeObject. Remove unwanted attributes from JSON before writing to JSON:

<code class="language-csharp">JObject jo = JObject.FromObject(config);

// 从其父级中删除“ObsoleteSetting” JProperty
jo["ObsoleteSetting"].Parent.Remove();

json = jo.ToString();</code>

Method 3: Use attributes

Another way is to use attributes:

1. Add the [JsonIgnore] attribute to properties that do not require serialization.
2. Creates an alternative private property setter with the same type as the original property. The setter implementation should set the original property.
3. Applies the [JsonProperty] attribute to the override setter with the same JSON name as the original property.

Here is an example:

<code class="language-csharp">class Config
{
    [JsonIgnore]
    public Fizz ObsoleteSetting { get; set; }

    [JsonProperty("ObsoleteSetting")]
    private Fizz ObsoleteSettingAlternateSetter
    {
        // get intentionally omitted here
        set { ObsoleteSetting = value; }
    }

    public Bang ReplacementSetting { get; set; }
}</code>

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