ASP.Net Web Api, POST multiple objects - angularjs

Question

I have this AngularJS Http Call
$http({
method: "POST",
url: Helper.ApiUrl() + '/Api/Case/SendCase',
data: { obecttype1, obj2, obj3},
}).then(function mySuccess(response) {});
Ant this ASP.net Web Api method
[HttpPost]
[Route("Api/Path/SendCase")]
public int SendCase(object application)
{
string applicantName = ((Newtonsoft.Json.Linq.JObject)application)["applicant"].ToString();
obecttype1 obj = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<obecttype1>(((Newtonsoft.Json.Linq.JObject)application)["obecttype1"].ToString());
.........................
return ID;
}
This works pretty well, but I feel it is a bit dirty because I am parsing my objects in my method, so my question is
Is the are way to send multiple objects as params in a POST method, I would prefer to avoid modifying my model, avoid creating a class for this
So my Api Method would look like this
public int SendCase(class1 obecttype1, class2 obj2, class3 obj3)

Answer 1

"Is the are way to send multiple objects as params in a POST method, I would prefer to avoid modifying my model, avoid creating a class for this"
By design HTTP Post can only have one body and web api will try to cast the body to the parameter defined in the method signature. So sending multiple objects in the body and trying to match these against multiple params in the method signature will not work. For that you need to define a class which holds the other classes and match the body signature.
public class postDTO
{
public class1 class1Data { get; set; }
public class2 class2Data { get; set; }
public class3 class3Data { get; set; }
}
//The api signature
public int SendCase(postDTO application)
If you still don't want to add the new class then I would use the JObject directly as the parameter as this
[HttpPost]
public int SendCase(JObject jsonData)
{
dynamic json = jsonData;
JObject class1DataJson = json.class1Data;
JObject class2DataJson = json.class2Data;
JObject class3DataJson = json.class3Data;
var class1Data = class1DataJson.ToObject<class1>();
var class2Data = class2DataJson.ToObject<class2>();
var class3Data = class3DataJson.ToObject<class3>();
}

Answer 2

1. Define models for the parameters
public class ClassType1
{
public int Num1 { get; set; }
public string Str1 { get; set; }
}
public class ClassType2
{
public double Test2 { get; set; }
}
2. Use the models as the parameters on the API controller method
// Sorry this example is setup on .Net Core 2.0 but I think the previous
// versions of Web Api would have similar/same behavior
[Route("api/[controller]")]
public class ValuesController : Controller
{
[HttpPost]
public void Post(ClassType1 ct1, ClassType2 ct2)
{}
}
3. When posting, your objects inside the data {} have to have the keys that match the parameter name you defined on the Controller method
jQuery ajax
$.ajax({
method: 'post',
url: 'http://localhost:53101/api/values',
dataType: 'json',
data: {
// It takes key value pairs
ct1: {
num1: 1,
str1: 'some random string'
},
ct2: {
test2: 0.34
}
}
});
To summarize, yes you can post multiple objects back to the server, as long as
You define a key for each object and the key has to match the parameter name you define on the server method.
The object structure has to match.
-- update --
Just as a proof, here is the screenshot:

Answer 3

We have an app that uses DefaultHttpBatchHandler to accept multi-part POST requests. I believe it to be a bit clunky for many reasons but it is the built-in way to accept multiple objects on a single request in a structured fashion.
https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.web.http.batch.defaulthttpbatchhandler(v=vs.118).aspx
As for the script to create something, that I don't know about. Our callers that use this API are C# services that can create the multi-part requests using a simple client library we provide to help them do just that.