How to deserialize an array of strings with an embedded zero using Jackson with a Scala module?

Question

How to deserialize an array of strings with an embedded zero using Jackson with a Scala module?

I have the following Scala case class:

case class InteractionPersona(
    id: String,
    geo: Option[(Option[String], Option[String], Option[String])])

Using Jackson when I serialize an instance of a class:

val persona = InteractionPersona("123", Some((Some("canada"), None, None)))
val json = mapper.writeValueAsString(persona)

I get the following JSON:

{"id": "123", "geo": ["canada", null, null]}

which is a perfectly acceptable representation for my needs. However, during deserialization, I get com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.JsonMappingException: Can not deserialize instance of java.lang.String out of VALUE_NULL token:

val actual = mapper.readValue(json, classOf[InteractionPersona])

It nulldoesn't seem to be a valid value String, but since I am deserializing Scala Option[String], it nullshould be represented as a value None.

In How to deserialize Jackson Json NULL String to Date using JsonFormat , @wassgren suggested using a converter using annotation JsonDeserialize, and after reading the documentation, I chose to use the options contentUsing:

case class InteractionPersona(
    id: String,
    @JsonDeserialize(contentUsing = classOf[GeoConverter])
    geo: Option[(Option[String], Option[String], Option[String])])

class GeoConverter extends JsonDeserializer[Option[(Option[String], Option[String], Option[String])]] {
    override def deserialize(jp: JsonParser, ctxt: DeserializationContext): Option[(Option[String], Option[String], Option[String])] = {
        throw new RuntimeException("tada")
    }
}

, . contentConverter :

@JsonDeserialize(contentConverter = classOf[GeoConverter])

class GeoConverter extends StdConverter[String, Option[String]] {
    override def convert(value: String): Option[String] = {
        throw new RuntimeException("tada")
    }
}