/** Offlined version used when we do not use the default deserialization method. */
  protected final String[] _deserializeCustom(
      JsonParser p, DeserializationContext ctxt, String[] old) throws IOException {
    final ObjectBuffer buffer = ctxt.leaseObjectBuffer();
    int ix;
    Object[] chunk;

    if (old == null) {
      ix = 0;
      chunk = buffer.resetAndStart();
    } else {
      ix = old.length;
      chunk = buffer.resetAndStart(old, ix);
    }

    final JsonDeserializer<String> deser = _elementDeserializer;

    try {
      while (true) {
        /* 30-Dec-2014, tatu: This may look odd, but let's actually call method
         *   that suggest we are expecting a String; this helps with some formats,
         *   notably XML. Note, however, that while we can get String, we can't
         *   assume that's what we use due to custom deserializer
         */
        String value;
        if (p.nextTextValue() == null) {
          JsonToken t = p.getCurrentToken();
          if (t == JsonToken.END_ARRAY) {
            break;
          }
          // Ok: no need to convert Strings, but must recognize nulls
          value =
              (t == JsonToken.VALUE_NULL) ? deser.getNullValue(ctxt) : deser.deserialize(p, ctxt);
        } else {
          value = deser.deserialize(p, ctxt);
        }
        if (ix >= chunk.length) {
          chunk = buffer.appendCompletedChunk(chunk);
          ix = 0;
        }
        chunk[ix++] = value;
      }
    } catch (Exception e) {
      // note: pass String.class, not String[].class, as we need element type for error info
      throw JsonMappingException.wrapWithPath(e, String.class, ix);
    }
    String[] result = buffer.completeAndClearBuffer(chunk, ix, String.class);
    ctxt.returnObjectBuffer(buffer);
    return result;
  }
  @Override
  public String[] deserialize(JsonParser p, DeserializationContext ctxt, String[] intoValue)
      throws IOException {
    // Ok: must point to START_ARRAY (or equivalent)
    if (!p.isExpectedStartArrayToken()) {
      String[] arr = handleNonArray(p, ctxt);
      if (arr == null) {
        return intoValue;
      }
      final int offset = intoValue.length;
      String[] result = new String[offset + arr.length];
      System.arraycopy(intoValue, 0, result, 0, offset);
      System.arraycopy(arr, 0, result, offset, arr.length);
      return result;
    }

    if (_elementDeserializer != null) {
      return _deserializeCustom(p, ctxt, intoValue);
    }
    final ObjectBuffer buffer = ctxt.leaseObjectBuffer();
    int ix = intoValue.length;
    Object[] chunk = buffer.resetAndStart(intoValue, ix);

    try {
      while (true) {
        String value = p.nextTextValue();
        if (value == null) {
          JsonToken t = p.getCurrentToken();
          if (t == JsonToken.END_ARRAY) {
            break;
          }
          if (t != JsonToken.VALUE_NULL) {
            value = _parseString(p, ctxt);
          }
        }
        if (ix >= chunk.length) {
          chunk = buffer.appendCompletedChunk(chunk);
          ix = 0;
        }
        chunk[ix++] = value;
      }
    } catch (Exception e) {
      throw JsonMappingException.wrapWithPath(e, chunk, buffer.bufferedSize() + ix);
    }
    String[] result = buffer.completeAndClearBuffer(chunk, ix, String.class);
    ctxt.returnObjectBuffer(buffer);
    return result;
  }