ServiceStack IReturn

Question

I am looking at the new api that came out 2 weeks ago. It seems like

ReqDTO : IReturn<List<ResDTO>> { //... }

The "IReturn" bit seems to be optional? The DTOs in RazorRockstars demo project works without it.

Answer 1

This is a new addition in ServiceStack's New API which allows you to document the expected Response Type that the Request DTO will return, e.g. with

ReqDTO : IReturn<List<ResDTO>> { ... }

Which lets you call using any of the C# Service Clients with:

List<ResDTO> response = client.Get(new ReqDto());

If you didn't have the IReturn marker your client call would have to look like:

List<ResDTO> response = client.Get<List<ResDTO>>(new ReqDto());

Which is something the client/consumer of your service needs to know about. If you had the marker on the DTO the response type is already known.

The IReturn<> marker is also used to determine the Response DTO that's used in the HTTP Responses in ServiceStack's /metadata pages.