I have this Data Object with an Int64 column:

[TableAttribute(Name="dbo.vw_RelationLineOfBusiness")]
[DataServiceKey("ProviderRelationLobId")] 
public partial class RelationLineOfBusiness
{

    #region Column Mappings
    private System.Guid _Lineofbusiness;
    private System.String _ContractNumber;
    private System.Nullable<System.Int32> _ProviderType;
    private System.String _InsuredProviderType;
    private System.Guid _ProviderRelationLobId;
    private System.String _LineOfBusinessDesc;
    private System.String _CultureCode;
    private System.String _ContractDesc;
    private System.Nullable<System.Guid> _ProviderRelationKey;
    private System.String _ProviderRelationNbr;
    **private System.Int64 _AssignedNbr;**

When I post/Put object through my OData controller using HttpClient and NewtsonSoft:

partial class RelationLineOfBusinessController : ODataController {

public HttpResponseMessage PutRelationLineOfBusiness([FromODataUri] System.Guid key, Invidasys.VidaPro.Model.RelationLineOfBusiness entity)

the entity object is null and the error in my modelstate :

"Cannot convert a primitive value to the expected type 'Edm.Int64'. See the inner exception for more details."

I noticed when I do a get on my object using the below URL:

Invidasys.Rest.Service/VidaPro/RelationLineOfBusiness(guid'c6824edc-23b4-4f76-a777-108d482c0fee')

my json looks like the following - I noticed that the AssignedNbr is treated as a string.

{ "odata.metadata":"Invidasys.Rest.Service/VIDAPro/$metadata#RelationLineOfBusiness/@Element", "Lineofbusiness":"ba129c95-c5bb-4e40-993e-c28ca86fffe4","ContractNumber":null,"ProviderType":null, "InsuredProviderType":"PCP","ProviderRelationLobId":"c6824edc-23b4-4f76-a777-108d482c0fee", "LineOfBusinessDesc":"MEDICAID","CultureCode":"en-US","ContractDesc":null, "ProviderRelationKey":"a2d3b61f-3d76-46f4-9887-f2b0c8966914","ProviderRelationNbr":"4565454645", "AssignedNbr":"1000000045","Ispar":true,"ProviderTypeDesc":null,"InsuredProviderTypeDesc":"Primary Care Physician", "StartDate":"2012-01-01T00:00:00","EndDate":"2014-01-01T00:00:00","Created":"2014-06-13T10:59:33.567", "CreatedBy":"Michael","Updated":"2014-06-13T10:59:33.567","UpdatedBy":"Michael" }

When I do a PUT with httpclient the JSON is showing up in my restful services as the following and the json for the AssignedNbr column is not in quotes which results in the restful services failing to build the JSON back to an object. I played with the JSON and put the AssignedNbr in quotes and the request goes through correctly.

{"AssignedNbr":1000000045,"ContractDesc":null,"ContractNumber":null,"Created":"/Date(1402682373567-0700)/", "CreatedBy":"Michael","CultureCode":"en-US","EndDate":"/Date(1388559600000-0700)/","InsuredProviderType":"PCP", "InsuredProviderTypeDesc":"Primary Care Physician","Ispar":true,"LineOfBusinessDesc":"MEDICAID", "Lineofbusiness":"ba129c95-c5bb-4e40-993e-c28ca86fffe4","ProviderRelationKey":"a2d3b61f-3d76-46f4-9887-f2b0c8966914", "ProviderRelationLobId":"c6824edc-23b4-4f76-a777-108d482c0fee","ProviderRelationNbr":"4565454645","ProviderType":null, "ProviderTypeDesc":null,"StartDate":"/Date(1325401200000-0700)/","Updated":"/Date(1408374995760-0700)/","UpdatedBy":"ED"}

The reason we wanted to expose our business model as restful services was to hide any data validation and expose all our databases in format that is easy to develop against. I looked at the DataServiceContext to see if it would work and it does but it uses XML to communicate between the restful services and the client. Which would work but DataServiceContext does not give the level of messaging that HttpRequestMessage/HttpResponseMessage gives me for informing users on the errors/missing information with their post.

We are planning on supporting multiple devices from our restful services platform but that requires that I can use NewtonSoft Json as well as Microsoft's DataContractJsonSerializer if need be.

My question is for a restful service standpoint - is there a way I can configure/code the restful services to take in the AssignedNbr as in JSON as without the quotes.

Or from a JSON standpoint is their a way I can get the JSON built without getting into the serializing business nor do I want our clients to have deal with custom serializers if they want to write their own apps against our restful services.

Any suggestions?

Thanks.