How can we hide a property in WebAPI?

Question

I have a model say under

public class Device
{        
        public int DeviceId { get; set; }
        public string DeviceTokenIds { get; set; }
        public byte[] Data { get; set; }
        public string FilePwd { get; set; }        
}

Now I have a ASP.net Web API where there is a POST method as under

[HttpPost]
[Route("AddDeviceRegistrations")]
public void InsertDeviceRegistrations(Device device)

If I expose the WebAPI, obviously all the fields will be available e.g.

{
  "DeviceId": 1,
  "DeviceTokenIds": "sample string 2",
  "Data": "QEBA",
  "FilePwd": "sample string 3"
}

What I want is that, whenever I expose my WebAPI, the DeviceID should not get expose. I mean I am looking for

{

      "DeviceTokenIds": "sample string 2",
      "Data": "QEBA",
      "FilePwd": "sample string 3"
}

Is it possible? If so how?

I can solve the problem by changing the function signature as

public void InsertDeviceRegistrations(string deviceTokenIds, byte[] data, string FilePwd).

But I wanted to know if it can be possible or not ? If so , how?

Thanks in advance.

have you seen http://stackoverflow.com/questions/19698844/how-to-use-shouldserializemembername-method-for-a-property-of-type-object — Shaun Wilde, Jun 03 '15 at 03:37
You can use "internal" access specifier for "DeviceId" internal int DeviceId {get; set; } — m2pathan, May 03 '19 at 06:48

score 38 · Accepted Answer · answered Jun 03 '15 at 03:47

38

I just figured out

[IgnoreDataMember]
 public int DeviceId { get; set; }

The namespace is System.Runtime.Serialization

More information IgnoreDataMemberAttribute Class

Learnt something new today.

Thanks All.

answered Jun 03 '15 at 03:47

priyanka.sarkar

25,766
43
127
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Perfect answer! – Sinoy Devassy Jul 11 '19 at 11:16
1

This works, but if you are using the same data model for GET operations, those fields will be missing. – Marius Popa Oct 31 '19 at 12:28

score 5 · Answer 2 · answered Jun 03 '15 at 03:45

There's good practice to use View Models for all GET/POST requests. In you case you should create class for receiving data in POST:

public class InsertDeviceViewModel
{        
    public string DeviceTokenIds { get; set; }
    public byte[] Data { get; set; }
    public string FilePwd { get; set; }        
}

and then map data from view model to you business model Device.

score 5 · Answer 3 · answered Jul 14 '20 at 19:00

If you are using Newtonsoft.Json

you can hide the properties like this:

public class Product
{
    [JsonIgnore]
    public string internalID { get; set; };
    public string sku { get; set; };
    public string productName { get; set; };
}

and your serialized response will not include the internalID property.

score 2 · Answer 4 · answered Jun 03 '15 at 03:44

2

The use of the Attribute [NonSerialized] on top of the Property stops its from being Serialized in the outputting JSON/XML .

public class Device
{        
        [NonSerialized]
        public int DeviceId { get; set; }

        public string DeviceTokenIds { get; set; }
        public byte[] Data { get; set; }
        public string FilePwd { get; set; }        
}

answered Jun 03 '15 at 03:44

Robbie Tapping

2,516
1
17
18

1

Hi, i just figured out [IgnoreDataMember] – priyanka.sarkar Jun 03 '15 at 03:47

Varinder Singh Baidwan · Answer 5 · 2018-06-11T13:10:15.883

1

If you want to hide the data member of Resonse class with null parameter. Go to your project WebApiConfig file residing in App_start folder, add the following code:

var jsonConfig = config.Formatters.JsonFormatter;
jsonConfig.SerializerSettings.NullValueHandling = NullValueHandling.Ignore;

edited Jun 11 '18 at 13:10

answered Jun 11 '18 at 13:01

Varinder Singh Baidwan

203
2
13

How can we hide a property in WebAPI?

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