Call Web Api 2 and HttpClient with dynamic object

Question

I'm currently working on an .NET Framework 4.7.2 application. I need to call an Web API Controller from within my C# code.

I'm updating a dynamic object, I cannot create any viewmodel.The dynamic object has the following structure, and will be filled dynamically with different keys:

List<KeyValuePair<int,Dictionary<string, object>>>

The calling code looks like that:

var task = Task.Run(async () => await UpdateMyInformation(myDynamicObject));
var test = task.Result;

The method implementation:

private async Task<dynamic> UpdateMyInformation(dynamic data)
{
    var content = new StringContent(JsonConvert.SerializeObject(data).ToString(), 
        Encoding.UTF8, "application/json");
    var baseUrl = "http://localhost:1234/api/MyInformationController";

    using (HttpClient client = new HttpClient())
    {
        var response = await client.PutAsync(baseUrl, content);
        response.EnsureSuccessStatusCode();
        var result = response.Content.ReadAsStringAsync().Result;
        return result;
    }

}

The API Controller looks like that:

public class MyInformationController : ApiController
{
    [HttpPut]
    public async Task<dynamic> Put(dynamic myData)
    {
       // I need to parse data and return the new dynamic object
       // Manipulate myData according to a given logic

        return myData;
    }
}

I can receive the data in my controller action, my question is: Should I use dynamic to get a JSON object into my controller?

What would perhaps be a better approach to solve this?

Answer 1

I would use JObject instead of dynamic.

public class MyInformationController : ApiController
{
    [HttpPut]
    public async Task<dynamic> Put(JObject myData)
    {
       // I need to parse data and return the new dynamic object
       // Manipulate myData according to a given logic

        return myData;
    }
}

By using the JObject, you can access the properties in the object based on the keys. Please see the docs for more information