WebApi - Deserializing and serializing alternate property names

Question

I\'m trying to figure out how I can specify alternate property names with ASP.NET WebApi - and have it work for deserialization + serialization, and for JSON + XML. I\'ve on

Answer 1

You can force Asp.Net to use the JSON deserializer by passing a JObject to your action, although it is a bit annoying to have to do it like this.

Then you can work with it as a JObject or call .ToObject<T>(); which will then honor the JsonProperty attribute.

// POST api/values
public IHttpActionResult Post(JObject content)
{
    var test = content.ToObject<TestSerialization>();
    // now you have your object with the properties filled correctly.
    return Ok();
}

Answer 2

Some of your findings/conclusions are incorrect...you can try the following instead:

This should work for both default Xml & Json formatters of web api and for both serialization & deserialization.

[DataContract]
public class TestSerialization
{
    [DataMember(Name = "field_one")]
    public string ItemOne { get; set; }

    [DataMember(Name = "field_two")]
    public string ItemTwo { get; set; }
}

The following should work for Json formatter only and for both serialization & deserialization.

public class TestSerialization
{
    [JsonProperty(PropertyName = "field_one")]
    public string ItemOne { get; set; }

    [JsonProperty(PropertyName = "field_two")]
    public string ItemTwo { get; set; }
}