Json.Net Deserialization - Web API and Nullable Date - asp.net

Question

Say you've got a model that looks like
public class UserModel
{
public string UserName { get; set; }
public DateTime? DateOfBirth { get; set; }
}
The DateOfBirth field isn't required, but could be specified. You have a Web API POST endpoint that looks like
[Route("")]
[AcceptVerbs("POST")]
public async Task<IHttpActionResult> Create(UserModel user)
{
}
And we've set the JSON serializer in start up like so,
public static void Register(HttpConfiguration config)
{
var jsonFormatter = config.Formatters.OfType<JsonMediaTypeFormatter>().First();
var settings = jsonFormatter.SerializerSettings;
settings.Converters.Add(new IsoDateTimeConverter());
settings.Error += (sender, args) => Console.WriteLine("This event is fired ok");
}
If we send some JSON to the endpoint that looks like this
{
"userName": "User1",
"dateOfBirth": "jhdgjhjfg"
}
...the error event is fired in the Serializer settings and the endpoint is called. At this point, the DateOfBirth field is null and I don't have any context that a deserialization error has occurred
Reading the JSON.Net documentation, because Handled == false in the Error event arguments of the Settings object, an exception should be raised into the application code - this doesn't happen? Is there a setting I haven't configured correctly for this?
How can I get context within the action so that I know a value was specified for a field and couldn't be deserialized? Even global behaviour would be fine, as long as I know this has happened and can return a 400.
UPDATE:
We can use a filter to check the Model state, then check the Model State errors for exceptions of type JsonReaderException. This lets you return a 400 with a list of violating fields
public class CheckJsonExceptionModelStateAttribute : ActionFilterAttribute
{
public override void OnActionExecuting(HttpActionContext actionContext)
{
if (actionContext.ModelState.IsValid)
{
return;
}
var fieldsInError = new List<string>();
foreach (var jsonException in
actionContext.ModelState.Keys.SelectMany(key => actionContext.ModelState[key].Errors)
.Select(error => error.Exception).OfType<JsonReaderException>())
{
Trace.TraceError(jsonException.Message);
fieldsInError.Add(jsonException.Path);
}
var apiError = new { ErrorMessages.BadRequestModel.Message, FieldsInError = new List<string>() };
foreach (var fieldError in fieldsInError)
{
apiError.FieldsInError.Add(fieldError);
}
actionContext.Response = actionContext.Request.CreateResponse(HttpStatusCode.BadRequest, apiError);
}
}

Answer 1

You have multiple options. But first, you are getting no exception because the WebApi handles this exception. Bad news.
Good news, you can handle it in at least two ways; use the ModelState.IsValid property - in your case it will be false. You can access them in your post-method. When you remove the invalid dateOfBirth it is true ;-)
Or you can use an ActionFilterAttribute to put it on your methods for re-use purposes.
For example:
public async Task<IHttpActionResult> Create(UserModel user) {
if (!ModelState.IsValid) {
// ModelState.Keys // Get all error-keys
}
}