Returning a Vector3 over an ASP.NET Core Web API returns empty JSON

Question

I'm assuming I'm doing something wrong here but whenever I try to return a Vector2/Vector3 over an ASP API it always gives me '{}'. JsonConvert seems to be able to serialize and deserialize it just fine but not over an API.

To replicate this create a new 'ASP.NET Core Web API' project and replace the WeatherController Get method with:

[HttpGet(Name = "GetWeatherForecast")]  
public Vector3 Get()  
{  
    return Vector3.One;  
 }  

Now calling it will return an empty JSON object ('{}').

Any help with this would be greatly appreciated.

Answer 1

the issue is fields are not serialized by default. you need to configure:

builder.Services.AddControllers().AddJsonOptions(o => o.JsonSerializerOptions.IncludeFields = true);

But I'd recommend not doing this. You should create a simple object to return:

public class Vector3Model  
{  
    public float X { get; set; }  
    public float Y { get; set; }  
    public float Z { get; set; }  
  
    public Vector3Model() {}  
    public Vector3Model(Vector3 v)  
    {  
        X = v.X;  
        Y = v.Y;  
        Z = v.Z;  
    }  
    public Vector3 ToVector3()   
    {  
      return new Vector3(X, Y, Z);  
    }  
}  

then its:

    return new Vector3Model(Vector3.One);  
  

note: by default swagger also does not include fields in the schema, you will need to define the schema to use fields