OData WebApi V4 .net - Custom Serialization

Question

I need to create a Serializer to support all of the following tasks:

1. Removing null properties
2. Removing Empty Lists

I noticed the Syntax of the ODataMediaTypeFormatter has been changed.

And I'm having trouble adding my Serialzation provider to the pipe.

Here what I've tried:

On WebApiConfig.cs:

var odataFormatters = ODataMediaTypeFormatters.Create();
odataFormatters.Add(new MyDataMediaTypeFormatter());
config.Formatters.InsertRange(0, odataFormatters);

Plus I've Created the following Odatameditatypeformatter:

public class MyODataMediaTypeFormatter : ODataMediaTypeFormatter
{
    static IEnumerable<ODataPayloadKind> payloadKinds = new List<ODataPayloadKind>
    {

        ODataPayloadKind.Asynchronous,
        ODataPayloadKind.Batch,
        ODataPayloadKind.BinaryValue,
        ODataPayloadKind.Collection,
        ODataPayloadKind.EntityReferenceLink,
        ODataPayloadKind.EntityReferenceLinks,
        ODataPayloadKind.Error,
        ODataPayloadKind.Delta,
        ODataPayloadKind.IndividualProperty,
        ODataPayloadKind.MetadataDocument,
        ODataPayloadKind.Parameter,
        ODataPayloadKind.Resource,
        ODataPayloadKind.ServiceDocument,
        ODataPayloadKind.Unsupported,
        ODataPayloadKind.Value
    };

    public MyODataMediaTypeFormatter() : base(payloadKinds)
    {
    }
}

Currently I checked all the base methods and none of them seems to hit the breakpoint while creating a Get/Post request to my OData controllers.

Any one managed to do it on the new version of Microsoft.Aspnet.OData 7.0.1?

Answer 1

I found the solution. On the new versions all the serialization and deserialization customization is enabled only through dependency injection.

First we need to override the serialization provider:

/// <summary>
/// Provider that selects the IgnoreNullEntityPropertiesSerializer that omits null properties on resources from the response
/// </summary>
public class MySerializerProvider : DefaultODataSerializerProvider
{
    private readonly IgnoreNullsSerializer _propertiesSerializer;
    private readonly IgnoreEmptyListsResourceSetSerializer _ignoreEmptyListsSerializer;
    private readonly IgnoreEmptyListsCollectionSerializer _ignoreEmptyListsCollectionSerializer;

    /// <summary>
    /// constructor
    /// </summary>
    /// <param name="rootContainer"></param>
    public MySerializerProvider(IServiceProvider rootContainer)
        : base(rootContainer)
    {
        _ignoreEmptyListsSerializer = new IgnoreEmptyListsResourceSetSerializer(this);
        _propertiesSerializer = new IgnoreNullsSerializer(this);
        _ignoreEmptyListsCollectionSerializer = new IgnoreEmptyListsCollectionSerializer(this);
    }

    /// <summary>
    /// Mark edmtype to apply the serialization on
    /// </summary>
    /// <param name="edmType"></param>
    /// <returns></returns>
    public override ODataEdmTypeSerializer GetEdmTypeSerializer(Microsoft.OData.Edm.IEdmTypeReference edmType)
    {
        // Support for Entity types AND Complex types
        if (edmType.Definition.TypeKind == EdmTypeKind.Entity || edmType.Definition.TypeKind == EdmTypeKind.Complex)
        {
            return _propertiesSerializer;
        }
        if (edmType.Definition.TypeKind == EdmTypeKind.Collection)
        {
            if(edmType.Definition.AsElementType().IsDecimal() || edmType.Definition.AsElementType().IsString())
                return _ignoreEmptyListsCollectionSerializer;

            return _ignoreEmptyListsSerializer;
        }            

        var result = base.GetEdmTypeSerializer(edmType);
        return result;
    }
}

You might need to override different serializers based on the EdmType you want to override it's behavior.

I'm adding an example of a serializer that ignore empty lists from entities based on "HideEmptyLists" header on the request...

/// <inheritdoc />
/// <summary>
/// OData Entity Serializer that omits empty listss properties from the response
/// </summary>
public class IgnoreEmptyListsResourceSetSerializer : ODataResourceSetSerializer
{
    /// <summary>
    /// constructor
    /// </summary>
    /// <param name="provider"></param>
    public IgnoreEmptyListsResourceSetSerializer(ODataSerializerProvider provider) : base(provider) { }


    /// <inheritdoc />
    public override void WriteObjectInline(object graph, IEdmTypeReference expectedType, ODataWriter writer,
        ODataSerializerContext writeContext)
    {
        var shouldHideEmptyLists = writeContext.Request.GetHeader("HideEmptyLists");
        if (shouldHideEmptyLists != null)
        {     
            IEnumerable enumerable = graph as IEnumerable; // Data to serialize

            if (enumerable.IsNullOrEmpty())
            {
                return;
                //ignore
            }
        }

        base.WriteObjectInline(graph, expectedType, writer, writeContext);
    }

}

And another one to ignore empty list for collections...

/// <inheritdoc />
/// <summary>
/// OData Entity Serilizer that omits null properties from the response
/// </summary>
public class IgnoreEmptyListsCollectionSerializer : ODataCollectionSerializer
{
    /// <summary>
    /// constructor
    /// </summary>
    /// <param name="provider"></param>
    public IgnoreEmptyListsCollectionSerializer(ODataSerializerProvider provider)
        : base(provider) { }


    /// <summary>
    /// Creates an <see cref="ODataCollectionValue"/> for the enumerable represented by <paramref name="enumerable"/>.
    /// </summary>
    /// <param name="enumerable">The value of the collection to be created.</param>
    /// <param name="elementType">The element EDM type of the collection.</param>
    /// <param name="writeContext">The serializer context to be used while creating the collection.</param>
    /// <returns>The created <see cref="ODataCollectionValue"/>.</returns>
    public override ODataCollectionValue CreateODataCollectionValue(IEnumerable enumerable, IEdmTypeReference elementType,
        ODataSerializerContext writeContext)
    {

        var shouldHideEmptyLists = writeContext.Request.GetHeader("HideEmptyLists");
        if (shouldHideEmptyLists != null)
        {
            if (enumerable.IsNullOrEmpty())
            {
                return null;
                //ignore
            }
        }

        var result = base.CreateODataCollectionValue(enumerable, elementType, writeContext);            
        return result;
    }
}

And to finalize I'll show how to inject the Serialization Provider into our OData pipeline:

        config.MapODataServiceRoute(odata, odata, builder => builder
            .AddService<ODataSerializerProvider>(ServiceLifetime.Scoped, sp => new MySerializerProvider(sp)));

That should wrap it up. cheers.

Answer 2

Thanks, but the solution for Endpoint routing is a little bit different, I post it here for those interested:

app.UseEndpoints(endpoints =>
{
    endpoints.MapControllers();
    endpoints.EnableDependencyInjection();
    endpoints.MaxTop(5000).SkipToken().Select().Filter().OrderBy().Expand().Count();
    //endpoints.MapODataRoute("odata", "odata", GetEdmModel(context));
    endpoints.MapODataRoute("odata", "odata",
        builder =>
        {
            builder.AddService(Microsoft.OData.ServiceLifetime.Singleton, typeof(IEdmModel), serviceProvider => GetEdmModel(context));
            builder.AddService(Microsoft.OData.ServiceLifetime.Singleton, typeof(IEnumerable<IODataRoutingConvention>), serviceProvider => ODataRoutingConventions.CreateDefaultWithAttributeRouting("odata",endpoints.ServiceProvider));
            builder.AddService(Microsoft.OData.ServiceLifetime.Singleton, typeof(ODataUriResolver), serviceProvider => new StringAsEnumResolver());
            builder.AddService(Microsoft.OData.ServiceLifetime.Singleton, typeof(ODataSerializerProvider), serviceProvider => new MySerializerProvider(serviceProvider));
        });
}