title: Firebase Database Error - Expected a Map while deserializing, but got a class java.util.ArrayList
body: <p><strong>Edit: Figured it out, check my posted answer if you're having similar issues.</strong> </p>
  
  <p>I know there are several questions about this issue, but none of their solutions are working for me. </p>
  
  <p>In my model class I have made sure to use List instead of Arraylist to avoid Firebase issues, but am still getting this error. It's a lot of code but most questions ask for all the code so I'll post it all. </p>
  
  <p>TemplateModelClass.java</p>
  
  <pre><code>//
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>I've used this basic model successfully many times. For the </p>
  
  <pre><code>HashMaps&lt;String, List&lt;String&gt;&gt;,
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>the String is an incremented Integer converted to String. The List's are just Strings in a List. Here's some sample JSON from Firebase:</p>
  
  <pre><code> //
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>Formatted that as best as I could. If you need a picture of it let me know and I'll get a screenshot</p>
  
  <p>And am getting this error, as stated in the title:</p>
  
  <pre><code>com.google.firebase.database.DatabaseException: Expected a Map while deserializing, but got a class java.util.ArrayList
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>The most upvoted question about this seems to have something to do with a problem using an integer as a key, but I think I've avoided that by always using an integer converted to a string. It may be interpreting it strangely, so I'll try some more stuff in the meantime. Thanks for reading!</p>