Optional Parameters in Web Method

Question

I've defined the following web method:

public string GetMatchingCompanies(string term, int companyPickerMode, int? officeId, int? proposalId)
{
    // ...
}

As you can see, the last two arguments are nullable. The idea is that these arguments are optional. They will be null if they are not specified.

However, when my AJAX code calls this method without supplying one of these arguments, I get the following error.

Invalid web service call, missing value for parameter: 'officeId'.

This is unexpected. Isn't there a way to make these parameters optional?

Maybe it's just a typo, but don't web methods need to be `static`? — Cᴏʀʏ, Jul 30 '15 at 17:54

score 4 · Accepted Answer · answered Jul 30 '15 at 17:54

4

Making then fields nullable does not mean that they do not need to be supplied, only that they will be initialized or can be set to null. If you do not want to specify them, set a default value like so:

public string GetMatchingCompanies(string term, int companyPickerMode, int? officeId = null, int? proposalId = null)
{
    // ...
}

answered Jul 30 '15 at 17:54

GPicazo

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Yeah, I guess so. I was certain I had used this technique before. Maybe it worked in an MVC app but this is with Web Forms. – Jonathan Wood Jul 30 '15 at 17:55
Note, this only works in .NET 4.0+, as that is when optional params were introduced. – Dave Voyles Jul 30 '15 at 18:25

Optional Parameters in Web Method

1 Answers1