JSON.NET as a WebAPI 2 OData serializer vs ODataMediaTypeFormatter

Viewed 14600

I'm trying to use JSON.NET as a default serializer in WebAPI 2 stack. I've implemented JsonMediaTypeFormatter, in which I've used JSON.NET serializer for serialize/deserialize data and created JsonContentNegotiator for using this media type formatter. All works fine except OData querying - if I add [Queryable] metadata ot action method, then response object doesn't contains any metadata information, only list of entities.

Small example. My action method:

[Queryable]
public async Task<PageResult<RuleType>> GetRuleType(ODataQueryOptions<RuleType> options)
{
    var ret = await _service.ListRuleTypesAsync(options);
    return new PageResult<RuleType>(
        ret,
        Request.GetNextPageLink(),
        Request.GetInlineCount());
}

If I use default OData serialize and call some query by Rule type (for example - .../odata/RuleType?$inlinecount=allpages&$skip=0&$top=1), I receive classic OData response with metadata info and count property:

odata.metadata ".../odata/$metadata#RuleType" 
odata.count    "2" 
value
        0    {
                 Id: 1
             Name: "General"
             Code: "General"
             Notes: null
             }

(some fields skipped, but I have Notes property with null value) But if I add my JsonContentNegotiator with JsonMediaTypeFormatter as a serializer - I receive only list of entities:

[
  {
    "Id": 1,
    "Name": "General",
    "Code": "General"
  }
]

(no Notes field here because of NullValueHandling.Ignore) Even more. If I remove [Queryable] attribute in action method - I receive another result:

{
  "Items": [
    {
      "Id": 1,
      "Name": "General",
      "Code": "General"
    }
  ],
  "Count": 2
}

In this case I've received Count, but still no metadata here. And also odata response property names completely differs from default.

My mind is blowing up. I just want to use JSON.NET as my serializer in any part of my web app (because of some strong restrictions). How can I do this?

2 Answers
Related