I am having an error with deserializing a json array into a custom array class with newtonsoft.json, and do not know how to fix it c#

Question

I am trying to load a saved array class called "Grid" which is an array of a class called "location" using Newtonsoft.Json.JsonConvert.DeserializeObject and am getting an error Here is the error

JsonSerializationException: Cannot deserialize the current JSON array (e.g. [1,2,3]) into type 'town_build_1_controller_individual_blocks+Grid' because the type requires a JSON object (e.g. {"name":"value"}) to deserialize correctly.
To fix this error either change the JSON to a JSON object (e.g. {"name":"value"}) or change the deserialized type to an array or a type that implements a collection interface (e.g. ICollection, IList) like List<T> that can be deserialized from a JSON array. JsonArrayAttribute can also be added to the type to force it to deserialize from a JSON array

But even though I have scoured the newtonsoft documentation I don't know how to fix it

this is the code that is causing the error

using (StreamReader fileR = new StreamReader(("savedata/buildingtown1/" + filename)))
{
    string gridinfo2 = fileR.ReadLine();
    Grid endgridinfo = new Grid();
    Newtonsoft.Json.JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<Grid>(gridinfo2);
    print(gridinfo2);
    visualhandler(endgridinfo);
    print("read info" + endgridinfo.grid[0, 0].Type);
    fileR.Close();
}

The line is

Newtonsoft.Json.JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<Grid>(gridinfo2);

This is my definition for Grid:

public class Grid
{
    //public Location [,] grid = new Location [3, 3];
    public Location [,] grid = { { new Location(), new Location(), new Location() }, { new Location(), new Location(), new Location() }, { new Location(), new Location(), new Location() } };
}

this is my definition for Location:

public class Location
{
    public int Type { get; set; }
    public int Level { get; set; }
}

the file that I am trying to load contains this

[{"Type":1,"Level":0},{"Type":0,"Level":0},{"Type":0,"Level":0}],
[{"Type":0,"Level":0},{"Type":0,"Level":0},{"Type":0,"Level":0}],
[{"Type":0,"Level":0},{"Type":0,"Level":0},{"Type":0,"Level":0}]

thanks for your help, and I know im quite bad at coding so please don't just comment that Many thanks, law_man123

Answer 1

You're not deserializing a grid object your deserialzing a Location[,].

var result =   Newtonsoft.Json.JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<Location[,]>(gridinfo2);
Grid endgridinfo = new Grid(){ grid = result };

This is what it would have to look like for your code to work as is. When trying to deserialize something that complicated I would try to serialize what you're expecting it to go into and check for difference.

{
    "grid": [
      [
        {
          "Type": 0,
          "Level": 0
        },
        {
          "Type": 0,
          "Level": 0
        },
        {
          "Type": 0,
          "Level": 0
        }
      ],
      [
        {
          "Type": 0,
          "Level": 0
        },
        {
          "Type": 0,
          "Level": 0
        },
        {
          "Type": 0,
          "Level": 0
        }
      ],
      [
        {
          "Type": 0,
          "Level": 0
        },
        {
          "Type": 0,
          "Level": 0
        },
        {
          "Type": 0,
          "Level": 0
        }
      ]
    ]
  }