Web Api: Model binding working only with JSON not XML

Question

Here's my action

public class EmployeesController : ApiController
{
    public void Post(int id, Employee employee) //Break point here ...
    {

    }
}

When I issue the following POST request, things are working perfectly.

http://localhost:64946/api/employees/12345

Host: localhost:64946
Content-Type: application/json
Content-Length: 194

{"Id":12345,"FirstName":"John","LastName":"Human"}

However, when I change the content-type to be application/xml, the employee object is null.

<Employee xmlns="http://schemas.datacontract.org/2004/07/RequestBinding.Models">
   <FirstName>John</FirstName>
   <Id>12345</Id>
   <LastName>Human</LastName>
</Employee>

Am I missing any thing?

UPDATE

I'm using Fiddler to issue request

Thanks for helping

web api by default return result in xml format .if you not pass any Content-Type in request it send result in xml format — Vijay Singh
– Vijay Singh, Commented Dec 21, 2013 at 2:28
@VijaySingh it's POST request using fiddler. When I send json in the body, it works. But when I change content-type to application/xml then replace json by xml in the body, the employee object in the action becomes null. — Richard77
– Richard77, Commented Dec 21, 2013 at 2:35

Badrinarayanan Lakshmiraghavan · Accepted Answer · 2013-12-21 02:52:40Z

2

For this XML

<Employee xmlns="http://schemas.datacontract.org/2004/07/RequestBinding.Models">
   <FirstName>John</FirstName>
   <Id>12345</Id>
   <LastName>Human</LastName>
</Employee>

to be bound correctly, your Employee class in the Web API project must be like this. Namespace must match what is in the request, class must be public, properties must be public, property names must match the XML element names.

namespace RequestBinding.Models
{
    public class Employee
    {
        public int Id { get; set; }
        // Other properties
    }
}

answered Dec 21, 2013 at 2:52

Badrinarayanan Lakshmiraghavan

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4 Comments

Richard77 Over a year ago

The property match. However, which namespace should much? This xmlns="http://schemas.datacontract.org/2004/07/RequestBinding.Models"?

Badrinarayanan Lakshmiraghavan Over a year ago

The namespace of the model must match what is in the request. Since your XML has RequestBinding.Models, the namespace of Employee must be the same, as shown in my answer.

TheLostBrain Over a year ago

Confirmed! I was experiencing the same exact issue with json binding working and xml not. After setting the correct namespace it was fixed. Thanks! Another point for json being so much simpler to work with heh.

Axel Over a year ago

@Badri Please do you think you could help me with this question stackoverflow.com/questions/26835211/…

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