Assignable.AspNetCore 1.0.0

Assignable.AspNetCore 🎯

Distinguish between "not provided" and "explicitly set to null" in your ASP.NET Core APIs with zero friction.

Ever struggled with PATCH endpoints where you need to know if a client omitted a field or intentionally set it to null? Assignable.AspNetCore solves this elegantly.

✨ Features

• 🔍 Three-state binding - Absent, Null, or Value
• 🚀 Zero boilerplate - Just wrap your types
• ⚙️ Fully customizable - Configure null value representations

📦 Installation

dotnet add package Assignable.AspNetCore

🚀 Quick Start

1. Register Services

// Program.cs

// Add query parameter support
builder.Services.AddAssignableQueryParameters();

// Add JSON body support
builder.Services.AddControllers()
    .AddJsonOptions(options =>
    {
        options.JsonSerializerOptions.AddAssignableJsonFields();
    });

2. Use in Your Controllers

[HttpGet("users")]
public IActionResult GetUsers(
    AssignableQueryParameter<string> name,
    AssignableQueryParameter<int?> minAge,
    AssignableQueryParameter<bool?> isActive)
{
    // Check what the client actually sent
    if (name.IsAssigned)
    {
        // Client provided 'name' parameter
        // name.Value could be a string OR null (if they sent ?name=null)
    }
    else
    {
        // Client didn't include 'name' parameter at all
    }
    
    // Convert to domain model
    var domainFilter = new UserFilter
    {
        Name = name.AsAssignable(),
        MinAge = minAge.AsAssignable(),
        IsActive = isActive.AsAssignable()
    };
    
    return Ok(FilterUsers(domainFilter));
}

🎯 The Three States

⚙️ Configuration

Custom Null Values

By default, "null" and "nil" (case-insensitive) are treated as null. Customize this:

builder.Services.AddAssignableQueryParameters(options =>
{
    options.NullValues = new[] { "null", "nil", "undefined", "none", "-" };
});

📚 Supported Types

Works with any type that ASP.NET Core can bind:

AssignableQueryParameter<int>           // Integers
AssignableQueryParameter<string>        // Strings
AssignableQueryParameter<Guid>          // GUIDs
AssignableQueryParameter<DateTime>      // Dates
AssignableQueryParameter<MyEnum>        // Enums
AssignableQueryParameter<bool>          // Booleans (supports 1/0 too!)
AssignableQueryParameter<int?>          // Nullable types
AssignableQueryParameter<int[]>         // Arrays
AssignableQueryParameter<List<string>>  // Lists

🔗 Collections

Supports both comma-separated and repeated parameter styles:

?ids=1,2,3        → [1, 2, 3]
?ids=1&ids=2&ids=3 → [1, 2, 3]
?ids=null         → null (explicitly set)
?ids=             → [] (empty array)

🏗️ Domain Conversion

Seamlessly convert to your domain Assignable<T> type:

public record UpdateUserRequest(
    AssignableQueryParameter<string> Name,
    AssignableQueryParameter<int?> Age);

public class UserService
{
    public void UpdateUser(int id, UpdateUserRequest request)
    {
        var update = new UserUpdate
        {
            Name = request.Name.AsAssignable(),
            Age = request.Age.AsAssignable()
        };
        
        // Now use update.Name.IsAssigned to check if it should be updated
        if (update.Name.IsAssigned)
        {
            user.Name = update.Name.Value;
        }
    }
}

💡 Pro Tips

Minimal APIs Support

Works seamlessly with ASP.NET Core Minimal APIs:

// Program.cs - same setup as before
builder.Services.AddAssignableQueryParameters();
builder.Services.AddControllers()
    .AddJsonOptions(options =>
    {
        options.JsonSerializerOptions.AddAssignableJsonFields();
    });

// Minimal API endpoints
app.MapGet("/users", (AssignableQueryParameter<string> name, AssignableQueryParameter<int?> minAge) =>
{
    if (name.IsAssigned)
    {
        // Handle name filter
    }
    
    if (minAge.IsAssigned)
    {
        // Handle age filter
    }
    
    return Results.Ok(new { message = "Filtered users" });
});

app.MapPatch("/users/{id}", async (int id, AssignableJsonField<string?> name, AssignableJsonField<int?> age) =>
{
    var user = await GetUserAsync(id);
    
    if (name.IsAssigned)
    {
        user.Name = name.Value;
    }
    
    if (age.IsAssigned)
    {
        user.Age = age.Value;
    }
    
    await SaveUserAsync(user);
    return Results.Ok(user);
});

PATCH Endpoints Made Easy

[HttpPatch("users/{id}")]
public IActionResult PatchUser(
    int id,
    AssignableQueryParameter<string> name,
    AssignableQueryParameter<string> email)
{
    var user = GetUser(id);
    
    if (name.IsAssigned)
    {
        user.Name = name.Value;
    }
    
    if (email.IsAssigned)
    {
        user.Email = email.Value;
    }
    
    SaveUser(user);
    return Ok(user);
}

JSON Request Bodies

Use AssignableJsonField<T> for JSON request bodies with the same three-state semantics:

public class UpdateUserRequest
{
    public AssignableJsonField<string?> Name { get; set; }
    public AssignableJsonField<int?> Age { get; set; }
    public AssignableJsonField<string?> Email { get; set; }
}

[HttpPatch("users/{id}")]
public IActionResult PatchUser(int id, [FromBody] UpdateUserRequest request)
{
    var user = GetUser(id);
    
    if (request.Name.IsAssigned)
    {
        user.Name = request.Name.Value;
    }
    
    if (request.Age.IsAssigned)
    {
        user.Age = request.Age.Value;
    }
    
    if (request.Email.IsAssigned)
    {
        user.Email = request.Email.Value;
    }
    
    SaveUser(user);
    return Ok(user);
}

JSON payloads work as expected:

// Only updates name (age and email are absent)
{ "name": "John" }

// Sets name to null, updates age (email is absent)
{ "name": null, "age": 30 }

// Updates all fields
{ "name": "John", "age": 30, "email": "john@example.com" }

📄 License

MIT

🤝 Contributing

We welcome contributions! This project uses:

• GitHub Actions for CI/CD
• xUnit for testing
• Multi-targeting (.NET 6.0+ support)

Publishing Releases

1. Create a GitHub release with a version tag (e.g., v1.0.1)
2. CI/CD will automatically build, test, and publish to NuGet.org
3. Make sure NUGET_API_KEY secret is configured in repository settings

Happy coding! 🎉