Json.net deserializing: Handle error, retry to deserialize the object which failed to deserialize and continue deserialization

Question

My error handling fixes the deserialization problem itself of JsonConvert.DeserializeObject. My question is now, how can i retry to deserialize the problematic object during process without breaking the whole deserialization procedure and trying again?

At first i set my error handling as follows JsonSerializerSettings.Error = HandleCouldNotLoadAssemblyError;

The serializer class looks like this:

public class Serializer
{
    private JsonSerializerSettings Settings { get; set; }

    public Serializer()
    {
        Settings = new JsonSerializerSettings(); // todo: add converters
        Settings.TypeNameAssemblyFormat = System.Runtime.Serialization.Formatters.FormatterAssemblyStyle.Full;
        Settings.TypeNameHandling = TypeNameHandling.Objects;
        Settings.PreserveReferencesHandling = PreserveReferencesHandling.Objects;

        Settings.Error = HandleCouldNotLoadAssemblyError;
    }


    private void HandleCouldNotLoadAssemblyError(object sender, ErrorEventArgs args)
    {
        if (args != null && args.ErrorContext != null && args.ErrorContext.Error != null && args.ErrorContext.Error.GetType() == typeof(JsonSerializationException))
        {
            Logger.Error(args.ErrorContext.Error);
            foreach (var repository in DeviceInformationManager.InformationSources.OfType<DeviceDriverRepository.DeviceDriverRepository>())
            {
                var result = repository.LoadType(args.CurrentObject.GetType().FullName);
                if (result != null)
                {
                    //args.CurrentObject = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject("SUBSTRING OF SERIALIZED DATA");

                    args.ErrorContext.Handled = true;
                    break;
                }
            }
        }

    }

    public string Serialize(object obj)
    {
        // Serialize
        return JsonConvert.SerializeObject(obj, Formatting.Indented, Settings);
    }

    public T Deserialize<T>(string serializedData)
    {
        // Deserialize
        return JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<T>(serializedData, Settings);
    }

The reason for the fail of json.net is that my Assemblies are loaded dynamically during runtime. In the error handling I load missing assemblies.

At the moment deserialization only works by calling the Deserialize twice.

Answer 1

dbc led me on right track. So I coded a type binder to solve my problem:

    /// <summary>
    /// This binder looks for not found <see cref="Type"/>s in the unloaded assemblies of the repositories.
    /// </summary>
    public class RepositoryTypesBinder : DefaultSerializationBinder
    {
        public override Type BindToType(string assemblyName, string typeName)
        {
            Type type = null;
            try
            {
                type = base.BindToType(assemblyName, typeName);

                if (type != null)
                {
                    return type;
                }
            }
            catch (JsonSerializationException)
            {
                // Type has not been found, so try to find type in some repositories
                foreach (var repository in DeviceInformationManager.InformationSources.OfType<DeviceDriverRepository.DeviceDriverRepository>())
                {
                    // Search for assembly paths and check their names
                    foreach (var driverUri in repository.GetDriverUris(null))
                    {
                        var targetAssemblyName = AssemblyName.GetAssemblyName(driverUri.LocalPath);
                        if (targetAssemblyName != null && targetAssemblyName.FullName.Equals(assemblyName))
                        {
                            // Load assembly into AppDomain
                            Assembly assembly = Assembly.Load(targetAssemblyName);
                            type = assembly.GetType(typeName, false);
                            if (type != null)
                            {
                                return type; // If type was found: finish
                            }
                            // else continue
                        }
                    }
                }

                // If not sufficient type has found until here: throw Error;
                throw;
            }

            return null;
        }

        public override void BindToName(Type serializedType, out string assemblyName, out string typeName)
        {
            assemblyName = serializedType.Assembly.FullName;
            typeName = serializedType.FullName;
        }
    }

Use it like this:

var Settings = new JsonSerializerSettings(); 
Settings.Binder = new RepositoryTypesBinder();
JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<T>(serializedData, Settings);