I have my own version of CredentialAutenticationProvider and in its Authenticate method I add a property named DisplayName to a Dictionary<string,string>. If the VALUE is null, the serializer drops the entire key - value pair. Here the screenshot from the debugger:
Elements [4] and [8] have valid keys but both values are NULL
And this is what is serialized and arrives at the client side (a WPF C# application):
{
"userId": "14",
"sessionId": "J8nbtcBAS2ag00ZBVGmn",
"userName": "tbednarz",
"displayName": "tbednarz",
"responseStatus": {
},
"meta": {
"TenantCode": "t-63211725",
"ResetPwdRequired": "True",
"IsLockedOut": "False",
"Email": "thomas@bednarz.ch",
"RemoteIP": "::ffff:10.66.66.50",
"UserName": "tbednarz",
"UserId": "14"
}
}
The meta object does not contain the two elements with the NULL values at all. Why are Elements of a dictionary removed, if the value is NULL? It is totally legal to have NULL values in dictionaries or key-value pairs in both c# and/ or JavaScript.
In C# it is correct to do something like var fullName = meta["FullName"] and then fullName equals NULL.
If the Serializer removes all NULL values, you are forced to test with Meta.ContainsKey or Meta.TryGetValue, which is no fun if you have larger dictionaries and the data contract in the API defines, that all keys are present (but the values may be NULL).
I am using MongoDB as data store. It has its own JSON/BSON serializer that returns dictionaries with NULL values correctly (does NOT remove entries).
Bug?
(I am running still .NETCore 2.1 and ServiceStack 5.5 on RedHat)