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Editorial Team
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Asked: 2026-06-09T00:35:29+00:00

I’m implementing a REST layer in .NET MVC 3. I’m looking for a clean

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I’m implementing a REST layer in .NET MVC 3. I’m looking for a clean way to grab the Accept header to determine if I should return Json or Xml.

I would also like to be able to spoof this header with a GET parameter for debugging (I want this to persist to prod too).

Here’s how I’m currently detecting this:

if (Request.AcceptTypes.Contains("application/json") || Request.Url.Query.Contains("application/json"))

This is the only place in my controller code that touches the Request object directly. I would like a cleaner, more testable way to read this. My ideal solution would be a parameter on the controller.

I tried several keywords to see if the default model binder would pick up on it, but nothing I tried worked.

So what’s the cleanest way to get this information? A custom model binder? Can you provide an example?

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1 Answer

  1. Editorial Team

    An action filter attribute would be a good, clean solution.

    There’s a good tutorial here : http://www.asp.net/mvc/tutorials/older-versions/controllers-and-routing/understanding-action-filters-cs

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