send neatly formatted json data to asp.net web api instead of default [FromBody] behavior

Question

I am trying to figure out a way to send a Json formatted data to a web api controller in a neat(more natural) way.

let me explain. Suppose I have this controller:

[HttpPost]
public class StudentController : ApiController
{

    public void PostSomething([FromBody] string name, [FromBody] Student s) 
    {
        //do something
    }
}

The json data that I WANT to post is something like this (as it is correctly formatted):

{
    "name" : "John",
    "student" : {
        "id" : "1",
        "age" : "22"
    }
}

But what I SHOULD send for the web api to parameter bind the objects should be like this:

{
    "John",
    {
        "id" : "1",
        "age" : "22"
    }
}

The problem is that if I use my desired json format, both name and student objects will be null in the PostSomething method of the controller.

How can I send a json request with a format similar to the first example to my web api controller?

The second example doesn't look like valid json to me, and fails on every validator I have tested it with. — Peter Morris
– Peter Morris, Commented Jan 20, 2017 at 9:03
That is exactly the case and you are totally right. But the web api controller only accepta the parameters if I send them this way. That is the problem — roostaamir
– roostaamir, Commented Jan 20, 2017 at 11:21
Your question isn't entirely clear to me. Is that the JSON you need to receive from a 3rd party, or is that the JSON format you need to create in order to send to a 3rd party? — Peter Morris
– Peter Morris, Commented Jan 20, 2017 at 13:04
The first example is how i WANT to send the json request, the web api controller won't accept it. The second example is how web api accepts the json(and I dont like it to be this way) — roostaamir
– roostaamir, Commented Jan 20, 2017 at 15:28
Then you need to write your own descendant of the ParameterBindingAttribute and use that instead of [FromBody] to decorate your parameter. Problem is you will also have to parse this string yourself because it doesn't adhere to any standard - that's going to be a real pain. Can't you get the user to send a properly formatted request? — Peter Morris
– Peter Morris, Commented Jan 20, 2017 at 16:02

Ralf Bönning · Accepted Answer · 2017-01-20 08:05:13Z

1

In order to consume the desired JSON structure you can change the method signature of the PostSomething and introduce a class that represents the sent data. E.g.

public class StudentTransferObject {
    public string Name {get; set;}
    public Student Student {get; set;}
}

With the Controller:

[HttpPost]
public class StudentController : ApiController
{    
    public void PostSomething([FromBody] StudentTransferObject studentInformation) 
    {
        //do something
    }
}

answered Jan 20, 2017 at 8:05

Ralf Bönning

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2 Comments

roostaamir Over a year ago

Still I cannot specify the name of the parameter as the key

roostaamir Over a year ago

actually I was wrong and your solution totally works. Thank you

Community · Accepted Answer · 2017-05-23 12:33:54Z

1

Read text from response body and parse the objects yourself:

[HttpPost] public async Task<string> PostSomething() { string result = await Request.Content.ReadAsStringAsync(); //parse here how you want return result; }
Dynamic serialization with custom binding or JToken.

edited May 23, 2017 at 12:33

CommunityBot

11 silver badge

answered Jan 20, 2017 at 16:17

Petre T

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