How to enforce ACCEPT_SINGLE_VALUE_AS_ARRAY in jackson's deserialization process using annotation
<p>Is there a way to use annotation on a  List property in a class to use <code>ACCEPT_SINGLE_VALUE_AS_ARRAY</code> in <code>Jackson</code>? I'm using Spring and getting the below exception</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>nested exception is
  com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.JsonMappingException: Can not
  deserialize instance of java.util.ArrayList out of VALUE_STRING token</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Assume I have a class as below: </p>

<pre><code>public class MyClass {

    private List &lt; String &gt; value;
}
</code></pre>

<p>And my JSON structures are as below:</p>

<p>case 1:</p>

<pre><code>[{"operator": "in", "value": ["Active"], "property": "status"}]
</code></pre>

<p>case 2:</p>

<pre><code>[{"operator": "like", "value": "aba", "property": "desc"}]
</code></pre>

<p>What annotation should I use to let the framework know I want these 2 cases to be treated the same when deserializing. </p>

<p><strong>UPDATE:</strong>
I moved the updates to an answer in this post for more clarity.</p>