JSON.Net JsonConverter for DbGeography

Question

Long long struggles with this...

Basically I have a model-first EF5 object with a DbGeography property. I would like to apply a JsonConverter that let's it roundtrip as simple latitude/longitude values. I'm using WebAPI.

Looking for JSON output and input like so:

{
    "location":
    {
        "geopoint":
        {
            "latitude":40.770712,
            "longitude":-73.962011
        }
    }
}

Here is my class definition and JsonConverter:

[MetadataType(typeof(QueryLocationMetadata))]
partial class Location
{
}

public class QueryLocationMetadata
{
    [JsonConverter(typeof(DbGeographyConverter))]
    public virtual DbGeography GeoPoint { get; set; }
}


public class DbGeographyConverter : JsonConverter
{
    private const string LATITUDE_KEY = "latitude";
    private const string LONGITUDE_KEY = "longitude";

    public override bool CanConvert(Type objectType)
    {
        return objectType.Equals(typeof(DbGeography));
    }

    public override object ReadJson(JsonReader reader, Type objectType, object existingValue, JsonSerializer serializer)
    {
        if (reader.TokenType == JsonToken.Null)
            return default(DbGeography);

        var jObject = JObject.Load(reader);

        if (!jObject.HasValues || (jObject.Property(LATITUDE_KEY) == null || jObject.Property(LONGITUDE_KEY) == null))
            return default(DbGeography);

        string wkt = string.Format("POINT({1} {0})", jObject[LATITUDE_KEY], jObject[LONGITUDE_KEY]);
        return DbGeography.FromText(wkt, DbGeography.DefaultCoordinateSystemId);
    }

    public override void WriteJson(JsonWriter writer, object value, JsonSerializer serializer)
    {
        var dbGeography = value as DbGeography;

        serializer.Serialize(writer, dbGeography == null || dbGeography.IsEmpty ? null : new { latitude = dbGeography.Latitude.Value, longitude = dbGeography.Longitude.Value });
    }
}

So using this I'm able to successfully serialize and even deserialize an object correctly but before I ever hit my ApiController action I get the following error:

System.Data.SqlTypes.SqlNullValueException: Data is Null. This method or property cannot be called on Null values.
   at System.Data.SqlTypes.SqlDouble.get_Value()
   at GetValueFromSqlDouble(Object )
   at System.Web.Http.Metadata.Providers.AssociatedMetadataProvider`1.<>c__DisplayClass3.<GetMetadataForPropertiesImpl>b__0()
   at System.Web.Http.Metadata.ModelMetadata.get_Model()
   at System.Web.Http.Validation.DefaultBodyModelValidator.ValidateNodeAndChildren(ModelMetadata metadata, ValidationContext validationContext, Object container)
   at System.Web.Http.Validation.DefaultBodyModelValidator.ValidateProperties(ModelMetadata metadata, ValidationContext validationContext)
   at System.Web.Http.Validation.DefaultBodyModelValidator.ValidateNodeAndChildren(ModelMetadata metadata, ValidationContext validationContext, Object container)
   at System.Web.Http.Validation.DefaultBodyModelValidator.ValidateProperties(ModelMetadata metadata, ValidationContext validationContext)
   at System.Web.Http.Validation.DefaultBodyModelValidator.ValidateNodeAndChildren(ModelMetadata metadata, ValidationContext validationContext, Object container)
   at System.Web.Http.Validation.DefaultBodyModelValidator.ValidateProperties(ModelMetadata metadata, ValidationContext validationContext)
   at System.Web.Http.Validation.DefaultBodyModelValidator.ValidateNodeAndChildren(ModelMetadata metadata, ValidationContext validationContext, Object container)
   at System.Web.Http.Validation.DefaultBodyModelValidator.ValidateProperties(ModelMetadata metadata, ValidationContext validationContext)
   at System.Web.Http.Validation.DefaultBodyModelValidator.ValidateNodeAndChildren(ModelMetadata metadata, ValidationContext validationContext, Object container)
   at System.Web.Http.Validation.DefaultBodyModelValidator.ValidateElements(IEnumerable model, ValidationContext validationContext)
   at System.Web.Http.Validation.DefaultBodyModelValidator.ValidateNodeAndChildren(ModelMetadata metadata, ValidationContext validationContext, Object container)
   at System.Web.Http.Validation.DefaultBodyModelValidator.ValidateProperties(ModelMetadata metadata, ValidationContext validationContext)
   at System.Web.Http.Validation.DefaultBodyModelValidator.ValidateNodeAndChildren(ModelMetadata metadata, ValidationContext validationContext, Object container)
   at System.Web.Http.Validation.DefaultBodyModelValidator.ValidateElements(IEnumerable model, ValidationContext validationContext)
   at System.Web.Http.Validation.DefaultBodyModelValidator.ValidateNodeAndChildren(ModelMetadata metadata, ValidationContext validationContext, Object container)
   at System.Web.Http.Validation.DefaultBodyModelValidator.Validate(Object model, Type type, ModelMetadataProvider metadataProvider, HttpActionContext actionContext, String keyPrefix)
   at System.Web.Http.ModelBinding.FormatterParameterBinding.<>c__DisplayClass1.<ExecuteBindingAsync>b__0(Object model)
   at System.Threading.Tasks.TaskHelpersExtensions.<>c__DisplayClass36`1.<>c__DisplayClass38.<Then>b__35()
   at System.Threading.Tasks.TaskHelpersExtensions.<>c__DisplayClass49.<ToAsyncVoidTask>b__48()
   at System.Threading.Tasks.TaskHelpers.RunSynchronously[TResult](Func`1 func, CancellationToken cancellationToken)

After toying around and googling all sorts of things, I am absolutely at a loss. I get that in general it is attempting to validate the property but a SqlDouble?

Answer 1

The issue isn't with your converter. This is a known validation bug that happens when a public property's getter throws in the object graph. This work item tracks the issue:

http://aspnetwebstack.codeplex.com/workitem/740

In the mean time, you should be able to get around it by disabling validation:

config.Services.Clear(typeof(ModelValidatorProvider));

Sorry for the inconvenience.

Answer 2

The bug mentioned by Youssef has since been fixed, but I still ran into issues when creating a custom JsonConverter for DbGeography in that somewhere in the validation process the DefaultBodyModelValidator got stuck in a loop. My solution was not to disable model validation altogether, but to replace the default validator with a derived one that excludes the DbGeography type from deep validation.

So as not to repeat myself, you can see the full solution here.