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NSwag generated C# client: Open API property name clashes and decimal types rather than double

· 11 min read
John Reilly
OSS Engineer - TypeScript, Azure, React, Node.js, .NET

NSwag is a great tool for generating client libraries in C# and TypeScript from Open API / Swagger definitions. You can face issues where Open API property names collide due to the nature of the C# language, and when you want to use decimal for your floating point numeric type over double. This post demonstrates how to get over both issues.

title image reading "NSwag generated C# client: Open API property name clashes and decimal types rather than double" with a C# logo and Open API logos

Make a C# Client Generator

Let's get a console app set up that will allow us to generate a C# client using an Open API file:

dotnet new console -o NSwag
cd NSwag
dotnet add package NSwag.CodeGeneration.CSharp

We'll also add a petstore-simple.json file to our project which we'll borrow from https://github.com/OAI/OpenAPI-Specification/blob/main/examples/v2.0/json/petstore-simple.json (home of the Open API specification):

{
"swagger": "2.0",
"info": {
"version": "1.0.0",
"title": "Swagger Petstore",
"description": "A sample API that uses a petstore as an example to demonstrate features in the swagger-2.0 specification",
"termsOfService": "http://swagger.io/terms/",
"contact": {
"name": "Swagger API Team"
},
"license": {
"name": "MIT"
}
},
"host": "petstore.swagger.io",
"basePath": "/api",
"schemes": ["http"],
"consumes": ["application/json"],
"produces": ["application/json"],
"paths": {
"/pets": {
"get": {
"description": "Returns all pets from the system that the user has access to",
"operationId": "findPets",
"produces": [
"application/json",
"application/xml",
"text/xml",
"text/html"
],
"parameters": [
{
"name": "tags",
"in": "query",
"description": "tags to filter by",
"required": false,
"type": "array",
"items": {
"type": "string"
},
"collectionFormat": "csv"
},
{
"name": "limit",
"in": "query",
"description": "maximum number of results to return",
"required": false,
"type": "integer",
"format": "int32"
}
],
"responses": {
"200": {
"description": "pet response",
"schema": {
"type": "array",
"items": {
"$ref": "#/definitions/Pet"
}
}
},
"default": {
"description": "unexpected error",
"schema": {
"$ref": "#/definitions/ErrorModel"
}
}
}
},
"post": {
"description": "Creates a new pet in the store. Duplicates are allowed",
"operationId": "addPet",
"produces": ["application/json"],
"parameters": [
{
"name": "pet",
"in": "body",
"description": "Pet to add to the store",
"required": true,
"schema": {
"$ref": "#/definitions/NewPet"
}
}
],
"responses": {
"200": {
"description": "pet response",
"schema": {
"$ref": "#/definitions/Pet"
}
},
"default": {
"description": "unexpected error",
"schema": {
"$ref": "#/definitions/ErrorModel"
}
}
}
}
},
"/pets/{id}": {
"get": {
"description": "Returns a user based on a single ID, if the user does not have access to the pet",
"operationId": "findPetById",
"produces": [
"application/json",
"application/xml",
"text/xml",
"text/html"
],
"parameters": [
{
"name": "id",
"in": "path",
"description": "ID of pet to fetch",
"required": true,
"type": "integer",
"format": "int64"
}
],
"responses": {
"200": {
"description": "pet response",
"schema": {
"$ref": "#/definitions/Pet"
}
},
"default": {
"description": "unexpected error",
"schema": {
"$ref": "#/definitions/ErrorModel"
}
}
}
},
"delete": {
"description": "deletes a single pet based on the ID supplied",
"operationId": "deletePet",
"parameters": [
{
"name": "id",
"in": "path",
"description": "ID of pet to delete",
"required": true,
"type": "integer",
"format": "int64"
}
],
"responses": {
"204": {
"description": "pet deleted"
},
"default": {
"description": "unexpected error",
"schema": {
"$ref": "#/definitions/ErrorModel"
}
}
}
}
}
},
"definitions": {
"Pet": {
"type": "object",
"allOf": [
{
"$ref": "#/definitions/NewPet"
},
{
"required": ["id"],
"properties": {
"id": {
"type": "integer",
"format": "int64"
}
}
}
]
},
"NewPet": {
"type": "object",
"required": ["name"],
"properties": {
"name": {
"type": "string"
},
"tag": {
"type": "string"
}
}
},
"ErrorModel": {
"type": "object",
"required": ["code", "message"],
"properties": {
"code": {
"type": "integer",
"format": "int32"
},
"message": {
"type": "string"
}
}
}
}
}

We'll tweak our NSwag.csproj file to ensure that the json file is included in our build output:

<Project Sdk="Microsoft.NET.Sdk">
<!-- ... --->
<ItemGroup>
<Content Include="**\*.json">
<CopyToOutputDirectory>PreserveNewest</CopyToOutputDirectory>
</Content>
</ItemGroup>
</Project>

This will give us a console app with a reference to NSwag. Now we'll flesh out the Program.cs file thusly:

using System;
using System.IO;
using System.Reflection;
using System.Threading.Tasks;
using NJsonSchema;
using NJsonSchema.Visitors;
using NSwag.CodeGeneration.CSharp;

namespace NSwag {
class Program {
static async Task Main(string[] args) {
Console.WriteLine("Generating client...");
await ClientGenerator.GenerateCSharpClient();
Console.WriteLine("Generated client.");
}
}

public static class ClientGenerator {

public async static Task GenerateCSharpClient() =>
GenerateClient(
// https://github.com/OAI/OpenAPI-Specification/blob/main/examples/v2.0/json/petstore-simple.json
document: await GetDocumentFromFile("petstore-simple.json"),
generatedLocation: "GeneratedClient.cs",
generateCode: (OpenApiDocument document) => {
var settings = new CSharpClientGeneratorSettings();

var generator = new CSharpClientGenerator(document, settings);
var code = generator.GenerateFile();
return code;
}
);

private static void GenerateClient(OpenApiDocument document, string generatedLocation, Func<OpenApiDocument, string> generateCode) {
var root = Path.GetDirectoryName(Assembly.GetEntryAssembly().Location);
var location = Path.GetFullPath(Path.Join(root, @"../../../", generatedLocation));

Console.WriteLine($"Generating {location}...");

var code = generateCode(document);

System.IO.File.WriteAllText(location, code);
}

private static async Task<OpenApiDocument> GetDocumentFromFile(string swaggerJsonFilePath) {
var root = Path.GetDirectoryName(Assembly.GetEntryAssembly().Location);
var swaggerJson = await File.ReadAllTextAsync(Path.GetFullPath(Path.Join(root, swaggerJsonFilePath)));
var document = await OpenApiDocument.FromJsonAsync(swaggerJson);

return document;
}
}
}

If we perform a dotnet run we now pump out a GeneratedClient.cs file which is a C# client library for the pet store. Fabulous.

So far so dandy. We're taking an Open API json file and generating a C# client library from it.

When properties collide

It's time to break things. We're presently generating a Pet class that looks like this:

[System.CodeDom.Compiler.GeneratedCode("NJsonSchema", "10.5.2.0 (Newtonsoft.Json v13.0.0.0)")]
public partial class Pet : NewPet
{
[Newtonsoft.Json.JsonProperty("id", Required = Newtonsoft.Json.Required.Always)]
public long Id { get; set; }
}

We're going to take our Pet definition in the petstore-simple.json file, and add a new @id property alongside the id property:

"Pet": {
"type": "object",
"allOf": [
{
"$ref": "#/definitions/NewPet"
},
{
"required": [
"id"
],
"properties": {
"id": {
"type": "integer",
"format": "int64"
},
"@id": {
"type": "integer",
"format": "int64"
}
}
}
]
},

For why? Whilst this may seem esoteric, this is a scenario that can present. It's not unknown to encounter properties which are identical, save for an @ prefix. This is often the case for meta-properties.

What do we get if we run our generator over that?

[System.CodeDom.Compiler.GeneratedCode("NJsonSchema", "10.5.2.0 (Newtonsoft.Json v13.0.0.0)")]
public partial class Pet : NewPet
{
[Newtonsoft.Json.JsonProperty("id", Required = Newtonsoft.Json.Required.Always)]
public long Id { get; set; }

[Newtonsoft.Json.JsonProperty("@id", Required = Newtonsoft.Json.Required.Always)]
public long Id { get; set; }
}

We get code that doesn't compile. You can't have two properties in a C# class with the same name. You also cannot have @ as a character in a C# property or variable name. To quote the docs:

The @ special character serves as a verbatim identifier.

It so happens that, by default, NSwag purges @ characters from property names. If there isn't another property which is named the same save for an @ prefix, this is a fine strategy. If there is, as for us now, you're toast.

There's a workaround. We'll create a new HandleAtCSharpPropertyNameGenerator class:

/// <summary>
/// Replace characters which will not comply with C# syntax with something that will
/// </summary>
public class HandleAtCSharpPropertyNameGenerator : NJsonSchema.CodeGeneration.IPropertyNameGenerator {
/// <summary>Generates the property name.</summary>
/// <param name="property">The property.</param>
/// <returns>The new name.</returns>
public virtual string Generate(JsonSchemaProperty property) =>
ConversionUtilities.ConvertToUpperCamelCase(property.Name
.Replace("\"", string.Empty)
.Replace("@", "__") // make "@" => "__", so "@type" => "__type"
.Replace("?", string.Empty)
.Replace("$", string.Empty)
.Replace("[", string.Empty)
.Replace("]", string.Empty)
.Replace("(", "_")
.Replace(")", string.Empty)
.Replace(".", "-")
.Replace("=", "-")
.Replace("+", "plus"), true)
.Replace("*", "Star")
.Replace(":", "_")
.Replace("-", "_")
.Replace("#", "_");
}

This is a replacement for the CSharpPropertyNameGenerator that NSwag ships with. Rather than purging the @ character, it replaces usage with a double underscore: __.

We'll make use of our new PropertyNameGenerator:

public async static Task GenerateCSharpClient() =>
GenerateClient(
// https://github.com/OAI/OpenAPI-Specification/blob/main/examples/v2.0/json/petstore-simple.json
document: await GetDocumentFromFile("petstore-simple.json"),
generatedLocation: "GeneratedClient.cs",
generateCode: (OpenApiDocument document) => {
var settings = new CSharpClientGeneratorSettings {
CSharpGeneratorSettings = {
PropertyNameGenerator = new HandleAtCSharpPropertyNameGenerator() // @ shouldn't cause us problems
}
};

var generator = new CSharpClientGenerator(document, settings);
var code = generator.GenerateFile();
return code;
}
);

With this in place, when we dotnet run we create a class that looks like this:

[System.CodeDom.Compiler.GeneratedCode("NJsonSchema", "10.5.2.0 (Newtonsoft.Json v13.0.0.0)")]
public partial class Pet : NewPet
{
[Newtonsoft.Json.JsonProperty("id", Required = Newtonsoft.Json.Required.Always)]
public long Id { get; set; }

[Newtonsoft.Json.JsonProperty("@id", Required = Newtonsoft.Json.Required.Always)]
public long __id { get; set; }
}

So the newly generated property name is __id rather than the clashing Id. Rather wonderfully, this works. It resolves the issue we faced. We've chosen to use __ as our prefix - we could choose something else if that worked better for us.

Knowing that this hook exists is super useful.

Use decimal not double for floating point numbers

Another common problem with generated C# clients is the number type used to represent floating point numbers. The default for C# is double.

This is a reasonable choice when you consider the official format for highly precise floating point numbers is double:

OpenAPI has two numeric types, number and integer, where number includes both integer and floating-point numbers. An optional format keyword serves as a hint for the tools to use a specific numeric type:

float - Floating-point numbers. double - Floating-point numbers with double precision.

Let's tweak our pet definition to reflect this:

"Pet": {
"type": "object",
"allOf": [
{
"$ref": "#/definitions/NewPet"
},
{
"required": [
"id"
],
"properties": {
"id": {
"type": "number",
"format": "double"
},
"@id": {
"type": "number",
"format": "double"
}
}
}
]
},

With this in place, when we dotnet run we create a class that looks like this:

[System.CodeDom.Compiler.GeneratedCode("NJsonSchema", "10.5.2.0 (Newtonsoft.Json v13.0.0.0)")]
public partial class Pet : NewPet
{
[Newtonsoft.Json.JsonProperty("id", Required = Newtonsoft.Json.Required.Always)]
public double Id { get; set; }

[Newtonsoft.Json.JsonProperty("@id", Required = Newtonsoft.Json.Required.Always)]
public double __id { get; set; }
}

C# developers may well rather work with a decimal type which can handle "financial calculations that require large numbers of significant integral and fractional digits and no round-off errors".

There is a way to switch from using double to decimal in your generated clients. I've been using the approach for some years, and I suspect I first adapted it from a comment on GitHub.

It uses the visitor pattern and looks like this:

/// <summary>
/// By default the C# decimal number type used is double; this makes it decimal
/// </summary>
public class DoubleToDecimalVisitor : JsonSchemaVisitorBase {
protected override JsonSchema VisitSchema(JsonSchema schema, string path, string typeNameHint) {
if (schema.Type == JsonObjectType.Number)
schema.Format = JsonFormatStrings.Decimal;

return schema;
}
}

The code above, when invoked upon our OpenApiDocument, changes the format of all number types to be decimal. Which results in code along these lines:

[System.CodeDom.Compiler.GeneratedCode("NJsonSchema", "10.5.2.0 (Newtonsoft.Json v13.0.0.0)")]
public partial class Pet : NewPet
{
[Newtonsoft.Json.JsonProperty("id", Required = Newtonsoft.Json.Required.Always)]
public decimal Id { get; set; }

[Newtonsoft.Json.JsonProperty("@id", Required = Newtonsoft.Json.Required.Always)]
public decimal __id { get; set; }
}

If we take all the code, and put it together, we end up with this:

using System;
using System.IO;
using System.Reflection;
using System.Threading.Tasks;
using NJsonSchema;
using NJsonSchema.Visitors;
using NSwag.CodeGeneration.CSharp;

namespace NSwag {
class Program {
static async Task Main(string[] args) {
Console.WriteLine("Generating client...");
await ClientGenerator.GenerateCSharpClient();
Console.WriteLine("Generated client.");
}
}

public static class ClientGenerator {

public async static Task GenerateCSharpClient() =>
GenerateClient(
// https://github.com/OAI/OpenAPI-Specification/blob/main/examples/v2.0/json/petstore-simple.json
document: await GetDocumentFromFile("petstore-simple.json"),
generatedLocation: "GeneratedClient.cs",
generateCode: (OpenApiDocument document) => {
new DoubleToDecimalVisitor().Visit(document); // we want decimals not doubles

var settings = new CSharpClientGeneratorSettings {
CSharpGeneratorSettings = {
PropertyNameGenerator = new HandleAtCSharpPropertyNameGenerator() // @ shouldn't cause us problems
}
};

var generator = new CSharpClientGenerator(document, settings);
var code = generator.GenerateFile();
return code;
}
);

private static void GenerateClient(OpenApiDocument document, string generatedLocation, Func<OpenApiDocument, string> generateCode) {
var root = Path.GetDirectoryName(Assembly.GetEntryAssembly().Location);
var location = Path.GetFullPath(Path.Join(root, @"../../../", generatedLocation));

Console.WriteLine($"Generating {location}...");

var code = generateCode(document);

System.IO.File.WriteAllText(location, code);
}

private static async Task<OpenApiDocument> GetDocumentFromFile(string swaggerJsonFilePath) {
var root = Path.GetDirectoryName(Assembly.GetEntryAssembly().Location);
var swaggerJson = await File.ReadAllTextAsync(Path.GetFullPath(Path.Join(root, swaggerJsonFilePath)));
var document = await OpenApiDocument.FromJsonAsync(swaggerJson);

return document;
}
}

/// <summary>
/// By default the C# decimal number type used is double; this makes it decimal
/// </summary>
public class DoubleToDecimalVisitor : JsonSchemaVisitorBase {
protected override JsonSchema VisitSchema(JsonSchema schema, string path, string typeNameHint) {
if (schema.Type == JsonObjectType.Number)
schema.Format = JsonFormatStrings.Decimal;

return schema;
}
}

/// <summary>
/// Replace characters which will not comply with C# syntax with something that will
/// </summary>
public class HandleAtCSharpPropertyNameGenerator : NJsonSchema.CodeGeneration.IPropertyNameGenerator {
/// <summary>Generates the property name.</summary>
/// <param name="property">The property.</param>
/// <returns>The new name.</returns>
public virtual string Generate(JsonSchemaProperty property) =>
ConversionUtilities.ConvertToUpperCamelCase(property.Name
.Replace("\"", string.Empty)
.Replace("@", "__") // make "@" => "__", so "@type" => "__type"
.Replace("?", string.Empty)
.Replace("$", string.Empty)
.Replace("[", string.Empty)
.Replace("]", string.Empty)
.Replace("(", "_")
.Replace(")", string.Empty)
.Replace(".", "-")
.Replace("=", "-")
.Replace("+", "plus"), true)
.Replace("*", "Star")
.Replace(":", "_")
.Replace("-", "_")
.Replace("#", "_");
}
}

Conclusion

This post takes the tremendous NSwag, and demonstrates a mechanism for using it to create C# clients from an Open API / Swagger documents which:

  • can handle property names with an @ prefix which might collide with the same property without the prefix
  • use decimal as the preferred number type for floating point numbers