Using classes for JSON serialization - vb.net

Question

All,
I need some help with understanding how classes can work with vb.NET and JSON.NET. I'm completely new to this. I've tried searching for answers, but I'm probably not asking the right questions. Here's my dilemma:
I have a JSON that I need to send to a REST API.
{
"paInfo":[
{
"providerAccountName":"someClient",
"providerAccountDescription":"A fine client.",
"providerName":"provider",
"externalProviderIdentifier":"BU4377890111"
},
{
"providerAccountName":"someClient1",
"providerAccountDescription":"A fine client.",
"providerName":"provider",
"externalProviderIdentifier":"BU4377890111"
}
],
"hubAccountName":"test"
}
I ran this through https://jsonutils.com/ to build my class as:
Public Class PaInfo
Public Property providerAccountName As String
Public Property providerAccountDescription As String
Public Property providerName As String
Public Property externalProviderIdentifier As String
End Class
Public Class addHubAcct
Public Property paInfo As PaInfo()
Public Property hubAccountName As String
End Class
From there, I'm trying to assign values to the class properties, but I don't quite understand how to pass the values for PaInfo to the property. Below is a snippet of code I'm using to assign values. If I try to assign a.paInfo = p, it errors:
error BC30311: Value of type 'PaInfo' cannot be converted to
'PaInfo()'
If I don't pass anything through to a.paInfo, I get a zero-length string in the JSON serialization.
Private Sub serializeAcct()
Dim p As New PaInfo
Dim a As New addHubAcct
p.providerAccountName = "Test\name'This ""that and the other'"
p.providerAccountDescription = "acct desc"
p.providerName = "tester"
p.externalProviderIdentifier = "123456"
a.hubAccountName = "Tester"
a.paInfo = p 'Here's my hangup
Dim o As String = JsonConvert.SerializeObject(a)
Dim deserializedProduct As addHubAcct = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject(Of addHubAcct)(o)
Stop
End Sub
?o.tostring,nq
{"paInfo":null,"hubAccountName":"Tester"}

Answer 1

Change the addHubAcct class like this:
Public Class addHubAcct
Public Property paInfo As New List(Of PaInfo)()
Public Property hubAccountName As String
End Class
And then change the bad line in serializeAcct() like this:
a.paInfo.Add(p)
You likely have other problems as well, but that should get you past the current obstacle.

Answer 2

Using List and .ToArray is what I was missing with my original code.
Private Sub serializeAcct()
Dim p1 As New PaInfo
Dim ps As New List(Of PaInfo)
Dim a As New addHubAcct
p1.providerAccountName = "Test\name'This ""that and the other'"
p1.providerAccountDescription = "acct desc"
p1.providerName = "tester"
p1.externalProviderIdentifier = "123456"
ps.Add(p1)
a.hubAccountName = "Tester"
a.paInfo = ps.ToArray
Dim o As String = JsonConvert.SerializeObject(a)
End Sub