Expert ASP.NET Web API 2 for MVC Developers

CHAPTER 16

Binding Complex Data Types Part I

In Chapter 15, I showed you how to bind simple data types from the request URL using value providers. In this chapter, I describe model binders, which build on the foundation of value providers to allow binding of complex types. I describe the built-in model binders, which bind a comprehensive range of types, in this chapter. I also explain how to create and apply a custom model binder for dealing with types that the built-in binders cannot deal with.

Model binders work only with value providers, meaning that data values are obtained from the URL. It is media type formatters that are responsible for ...