Question

Consider the following model which uses XmlSerializer and JSON.net to serialize the object to and from the respective formats.

[XmlRoot("my_model")]
[JsonObject("my_model")]
public class MyModel {

    [JsonProperty("property1")]
    [XmlElement("property1")]
    public string Property1 { get; set; }

    [JsonProperty("important")]
    [XmlElement("important")]
    public string IsReallyImportant { get; set; }
}

Now consider the following ASP.NET MVC 3 action that accept JSON or XML requests and returns model in the respective format (based on the accept header).

public class MyController {
    public ActionResult Post(MyModel model) {

        // process model

        string acceptType = Request.AcceptTypes[0];
        int index = acceptType.IndexOf(';');
        if (index > 0)
        {
            acceptType = item.Substring(0, index);
        }

        switch(acceptType) {
            case "application/xml":
            case "text/xml":
                return new XmlResult(model);

            case "application/json":
                return new JsonNetResult(model);

            default:
                return View();
        }
    }
}

Custom ValueProviderFactory implementations exist for JSON and XML inputs. As it stands the IsReallyImportant is being ignored when the input is being mapped to MyModel. However, if I define the attributes of IsReallyImportant to use “isreallyimportant”, then information is correctly serialized.

[JsonProperty("isreallyimportant")]
[XmlElement("isreallyimportant")]
public string IsReallyImportant { get; set; }

As expected the default binder uses the property name when mapping incoming values to the model. I had a look at the BindAttribute, however its not supported on properties.

How does one tell ASP.NET MVC 3 that the property IsReallyImportant should be bound to “important” in the incoming request?

I have too many models to write a custom binder for each. Note that I don’t use ASP.NET Web API.

Answer 1

You can do only one custom ModelBinder which will look for JSonProperty and XMLElement attributes to map the right properties. This way you could use it everywhere and you won’t have to develop a modelbinder for each model. Unfortunately, there is no other option to modify the property bindings than custom modelbinders.