How to query OData while using alternate property names

Question

I am using Newtonsoft to change property names on the web api json output.

public class User : IEntity
{
    [Newtonsoft.Json.JsonProperty(PropertyName = "user_name"]
    public string Username { get; set; }
}

I've enabled odata query so that i can add queries to the request.

[HttpGet]
[Route("api/users")]
[EnableQuery]
public IQueryable<User> GetUser()
{
    return dbContext.DbSet<User>();
}

When i make a query using the alternate property name, it fails.

GET /api/users?$select=user_name

The query specified in the URI is not valid. Could not find a property named 'user_name'

The query works fine if I use the entity model name, Username (which is not visible to public). How can i fix this while still using Newtonsoft to handle deserialization?

Answer 1

I've not been able to achive this with the Json.Property attribute but instead this way:

// in class WepApiConfig    
ODataModelBuilder builder = new ODataConventionModelBuilder();
var conf = builder.EntitySet<User>("users");
conf.EntityType.Property(f => f.Username).Name = "user_name";

the query

GET /api/users?$select=user_name

should work now (with my OData service it works fine)

My answer is based on the reply to this question but with minor corrections.