Serializing/Deserializing Dictionary of objects with JSON.NET

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I'm trying to serialize/deserialize a Dictionary<string, object> which seems to work fine if the object is a simple type but doesn't work when the object is more complex.

I have this class:

public class UrlStatus
{
 public int Status { get; set; }
 public string Url { get; set; }
}

In my dictionary I add a List<UrlStatus> with a key of "Redirect Chain" and a few simple strings with keys "Status", "Url", "Parent Url". The string I'm getting back from JSON.Net looks like this:

{"$type":"System.Collections.Generic.Dictionary`2[[System.String, mscorlib],[System.Object, mscorlib]], mscorlib","Status":"OK","Url":"http://www.ehow.com/m/how_5615409_create-pdfs-using-bean.html","Parent Url":"http://www.ehow.com/mobilearticle35.xml","Redirect Chain":[{"$type":"Demand.TestFramework.Core.Entities.UrlStatus, Demand.TestFramework.Core","Status":301,"Url":"http://www.ehow.com/how_5615409_create-pdfs-using-bean.html"}]}

The code I'm using to serialize looks like:

JsonConvert.SerializeObject(collection, Formatting.None, new JsonSerializerSettings 
{ 
 TypeNameHandling = TypeNameHandling.Objects, 
 TypeNameAssemblyFormat = System.Runtime.Serialization.Formatters.FormatterAssemblyStyle.Simple 
});

to deserialize I'm doing:

JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<T>(collection, new JsonSerializerSettings
{
 TypeNameHandling = TypeNameHandling.Objects,
 TypeNameAssemblyFormat = System.Runtime.Serialization.Formatters.FormatterAssemblyStyle.Simple, 
});

The Dictionary comes back fine, all the strings come back fine, but the List doesn't get properly deserialized. It just comes back as

{[
  {
    "$type": "XYZ.TestFramework.Core.Entities.UrlStatus, XYZ.TestFramework.Core",
    "Status": 301,
    "Url": "/how_5615409_create-pdfs-using-bean.html"
  }
]}

Of course I can deserailize this string again and I get the correct object, but it seems like JSON.Net should have done this for me. Clearly I'm doing something wrong, but I don't know what it is.

1 Answers
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