CODEWITHSUNDEEP
c#jsonserializationasp.net-web-apijson.net
Alberto Montellano
Alberto Montellano

Reputation: 6246

Deserializing dictionary return Null

I'm working with a Web API and trying to receive a dictionary as parameter:

[HttpGet]
public IDictionary<string, string> Get(IDictionary<string,string> myDictionaryAsParameter)

To call it, I'm creating a url querystring with:

string endpoint = "http//localhost:1122/api/MyController/?myDictionaryAsParameter=" + JsonConvert.SerializeObject(parameters)

When debugging the code, the web API method dictionary parameter is Null.

If I change the web API signature to :

[HttpGet]
public IDictionary<string, string> Get(string myDictionaryAsParameter)
{
    var dict = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject(myDictionaryAsParameter);
}

It gets parsed correctly.

How should I encode/serialize my dictionary object to send it in url querystring and get it correctly parsed by web API method signature?

Upvotes: 1

Views: 342

Answers (1)

Danny Varod
Danny Varod

Reputation: 18068

If you use:

[HttpGet]
[Route("")]
public IDictionary<string, string> Get(IDictionary<string,string> myParameter)
{
}

Then you'll have to pass myDictionaryAsParameter via the body and change to [HttpPost], since Web API doesn't support a body parameter in HttpGet.

A few tests I've tried show that only simple parameters are read via URL e.g.

// For URL/value
// I've tried this with complex objects - doesn't work with complex objects

[HttpGet]
[Route("{myParameter}")]
public IDictionary<string, string> Get(string myParameter)
{
}

or:

// For URL?myParameter=value
// Haven't tried this with complex objects - might not work with complex objects

[HttpGet]
[Route("")]
public IDictionary<string, string> Get(string myParameter = "default")
{
}

However, you could try this with the last option (by adding a default value).

Also, the vNext of Web API gives additional routing options, you could try this with VS2015 and the new Web API version.

Upvotes: 1

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