Custom serialization in Service Stack using DeSerializeFn - json

Question

In servicestack, I am trying to process a webhook which sends the following JSON body to a service stack endpoint:
{
"action": "actionType1",
"api_version": "1.00",
"data": {
"id": "a8d316b8-10a7-4440-a836-9bd354f656db",
//VARIABLE other properties / structure
}
}
Which I am trying to map to the following request object:
[Route("/public/Webhookhandler", HttpVerbs.Post)]
public class MyCustomRequst
{
public string action { get; set; }
public string api_version { get; set; }
public string data { get; set; } //Will be the remaining JSON
}
However, when the service stack framework processes this - the value in "data" is the correct part of the JSON body, but with all of the quotes removed - so it is no longer valid.
I have tried to override the serialization for the whole request object using something like this:
JsConfig<MyCustomRequst>.DeSerializeFn = DeserializeMyRequestDto;
public MyCustomRequst DeserializeMyRequestDto(string rawBody)
{
var result = rawBody.FromJson<MyCustomRequst>();
return result
}
But even in this case, the value of the "rawBody" variable is still the correct JSON data but with all the quotes removed, e.g.
{
action:actionType1,
api_version:1.00,
data:{id:a8d316b8-10a7-4440-a836-9bd354f656db}
}
Am I doing something wrong here? I am unsure whether I am trying to make service stack do something it is not intended to do, or whether I am missing something that would make this work.
Any help would be appreciated :-)

Answer 1

Your DTO should closely match the shape of the JSON, if it's always a flat object you can use a string Dictionary, e.g:
[Route("/public/Webhookhandler", HttpVerbs.Post)]
public class MyCustomRequst
{
public string action { get; set; }
public string api_version { get; set; }
public Dictionary<string,string> data { get; set; }
}
If it's a more nested object structure you can use a JsonObject for a more flexible API to parse dynamically.