How to return a dynamic object list from web api in c#

Question

I Have an object

public class GeneralResponseClass
{
    public int ErrorCode { set; get; }
    public string Date { set; get; }
    public String ErrorMessage { set; get; }

    public List<dynamic> Data = new List<dynamic>();
    public bool Success { set; get; }
    public GeneralResponseClass()
    {
        Date = DateTime.Now.ToString("dd/MM/yyyy HH:mm:ss");
    }
}

in my API Function i want to return the object

[HttpGet]
public GeneralResponseClass Get()
    {
        GeneralResponseClass generalResponseClass = new GeneralResponseClass();

        generalResponseClass.ErrorCode = 0;
        generalResponseClass.ErrorMessage = "";


        generalResponseClass.Success = false;



        generalResponseClass.Data.Add(new
        {
            Name = "User 1",
            Email = "[email protected]"
        });

        generalResponseClass.Data.Add(new
        {
            Name = "User 2",
            Email = "[email protected]"
        });

        return generalResponseClass;
    }

in the response i get don't get the List

 {
   errorCode: 0,
date: "06/01/2020 16:32:12",
errorMessage: "",
success: false
}

Why The List Data dont return?

Anonymous types are just syntactical sugar. When compiled, a class is generated for it but your application has no scope of this type other than at compile time. Its the same as if you were to use List<object>. The JSON serialiser doesn't have any type information to reflect thus nothing returns. — Kieran Devlin
– Kieran Devlin, Commented Jan 6, 2020 at 14:46
Please post your API serializer settings if you have defined any. My guess is, you defined it as a field and may be serializer settings are preventing to deserialize it. Try making it a property instead of Field. — sam
– sam, Commented Jan 6, 2020 at 14:52

Iavor Orlyov · Accepted Answer · 2020-01-06 15:02:35Z

2

You cannot return any collection with anonymous object. You can use ExpandoObject which is simillar to anonymous. You can also create a custom class for your type of object since they have the same properties in your case (at least in the template).

You can check for more on ExpandoObject here: What are the true benefits of ExpandoObject?

edited Jan 6, 2020 at 15:02

answered Jan 6, 2020 at 14:40

Iavor Orlyov

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6 Comments

sam Over a year ago

IMHO, I don't think its issue with dynamic objects. Because in our API, there are dynamic objects returned without any issue.

Iavor Orlyov Over a year ago

I meant anonymous, my bad

sam Over a year ago

Agree, dynamic is bad but you did not answer the OP's question on why unable to deserialize. you showed alternative instead.

Iavor Orlyov Over a year ago

"How to return a dynamic object list from web api in c#" I guess that's OP's question

sam Over a year ago

That's fine as long as you have helped OP.

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