using System;

using Newtonsoft.Json;

using Newtonsoft.Json.Linq;

using System.Drawing;

public class Program

{

    public static void Main()

    {

        var zpi = new ZoneProgramInput();

        zpi.Name = "Test";

        zpi.Type = typeof(Color);

        zpi.Value = Color.Red;

        string json = JsonConvert.SerializeObject(zpi);

        Console.WriteLine("JSON: {0}", json);

        ZoneProgramInput deserialized = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<ZoneProgramInput>(json);

        Console.WriteLine("'Value': {0}", deserialized.Value);

        Console.WriteLine("Type of 'Value': {0}", deserialized.Value.GetType());

    }

}

​

[JsonConverter(typeof(UnderlyingTypeConverter))]

public class ZoneProgramInput

{

    public string Name { get; set; }

    public Type Type { get; set; }

    public object Value { get; set; }

}

​

public class UnderlyingTypeConverter : JsonConverter

{

    public override void WriteJson(

        JsonWriter writer, object value, JsonSerializer serializer)

    {

        throw new NotImplementedException();

    }

​

    public override object ReadJson(

        JsonReader reader, Type objectType, object existingValue, JsonSerializer serializer)

    {

        var result = new ZoneProgramInput();

        JObject obj = serializer.Deserialize<JObject>(reader);

        serializer.Populate(obj.CreateReader(), result);

        result.Value = 

            obj.GetValue("value", StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase)

               .ToObject(result.Type, serializer);

        return result;

    }

​

    public override bool CanConvert(Type objectType)

    {

        return objectType == typeof(ZoneProgramInput);

    }

    public override bool CanWrite

    {

        get { return false; }

    }

}