Serialize/deserialize a Dictionary with a comma-separated entry - json

Question

I am developing a ASP.NET Core 3.1 website and I have data in a Dictionary<string, object> that I want to Serialize/Deserialize using Microsoft System.Text.Json (I am new to Json serialize/deserialize in fact). The data comes from a PostgreSQL DB query and one of the returned values is a comma-separated list of integers (converted to string) that results from the STRING_AGG function. The image below shows one of the entries of the Dictionary:
I serialize it using the following code. Please note that I have tried both Microsoft System.Text.Json and Newtonsoft.
jsonResult = Newtonsoft.Json.JsonConvert.SerializeObject(result);
//jsonResult = JsonSerializer.Serialize(result);
The data in the Dictionary should be deserialized according to the following class structure:
I use the following code:
//IEnumerable<SeccGralContenidoViewModel> seccGralContenido = JsonSerializer.Deserialize<IEnumerable<SeccGralContenidoViewModel>>(_seccGralContenidoRepository.Read());
IEnumerable<SeccGralContenidoViewModel> seccGralContenido = Newtonsoft.Json.JsonConvert.DeserializeObject <IEnumerable<SeccGralContenidoViewModel>>(_seccGralContenidoRepository.Read());
However, an exception is thrown when deserializing no matter if I use Newtonsoft or System.Text.Json:
I am originally using System.Text.Json namespace but I also tried using Newtonsoft. After analyzing a bit deeper, I see that the problem could be the way in which data is saved to the Dictionary but I have not found a workaround.

Answer 1

If you don't want to write a custom converter then the simplest solution is to introduce another property:
public string CategoriasContenidolds {get; set;}
private static char delimiter = ',';
[JsonIgnore]
public string[] CategoriasContenidolds_Collection
{
get => CategoriasContenidolds.Split(delimiter).Select(item => item.Trim()).ToArray();
set => CategoriasContenidolds = string.Join(delimiter, value);
}
The serializer will use the CategoriasContenidolds property during serialization and deserialization
You should use CategoriasContenidolds_Collection (or name whatever you want) in your business logic
By explicitly marking this property with JsonIgnore the serializer will ignore that

Answer 2

I could solve my issue by directly getting JSON formatted results from queries. PostgreSQL does an excellent job. This way I also avoid performing a 2-step process: first, getting the query result; second, serializing to JSON.