using System;

using Newtonsoft.Json;

using Newtonsoft.Json.Linq;

public class Program

{

    public static void Main()

    {

        Console.WriteLine("--- first run ---");

​

        string json = @"

            {

                ""Template"": ""TemplateName""

            }";

        DeserializeAndDump(json);

        Console.WriteLine("--- second run ---");

​

        json = @"

            {

                ""Template"": { ""Name"": ""OtherTemplate"" }

            }";

        DeserializeAndDump(json);

    }

    static void DeserializeAndDump(string json)

    {

        MyClass obj = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<MyClass>(json);

        if (obj.Template == null)

        {

            Console.WriteLine("Template property is null");

        }

        else

        {

            Console.WriteLine("Template property is a " + obj.Template.GetType().Name);

            string name = "(unknown)";

            if (obj.Template is Template) 

            {

                name = ((Template)obj.Template).Name;

            }

            else if (obj.Template is string) 

            {

                name = (string)obj.Template;

            }

            Console.WriteLine("Template name is \"" + name + "\"");

        }

        Console.WriteLine();

    }

}

​

class MyClass

{

    [JsonConverter(typeof(ObjectOrStringConverter<Template>))]

    public object Template { get; set; }

}

​

class Template

{

    public string Name { get; set; }

}

​

class ObjectOrStringConverter<T> : JsonConverter

{

    public override bool CanConvert(Type objectType)

    {

        // CanConvert is not called when the [JsonConverter] attribute is used

        return false;

    }

    public override object ReadJson(JsonReader reader, Type objectType, object existingValue, JsonSerializer serializer)

    {

        JToken token = JToken.Load(reader);

        if (token.Type == JTokenType.Object)

        {

            return token.ToObject<T>(serializer);

        }

        return token.ToString();

    }

    public override void WriteJson(JsonWriter writer, object value, JsonSerializer serializer)

    {

        serializer.Serialize(writer, value);

    }

}

​