PuneetGarg
Sep 4, 2024
  1763
(5 votes)

Remove Unwanted properties for Headless Implementation using Content Delivery API

While working with Headless, whenever we want to send data to the front end, many properties are also shown in JSON that we don't wish to, which creates a big and unreadable response.

To refactor that we can create Filter which will kick before and after every call.

Example:-

PreSerialization Content filter 

  • This class prevents the serialization of certain properties before the serialization
  • Register that Service as Singleton 
internal class PreSerializationContentFilter  : ContentFilter<IContent>
{
    public override void Filter(IContent content, ConverterContext converterContext)
    {
        content.Property.Remove("TopContentArea");
        content.Property.Remove("MainContentArea");
        content.Property.Remove("BottomContentArea");

        content.Property.Remove("MetaTitle");
        content.Property.Remove("MetaKeywords");
        content.Property.Remove("MetaDescription");
        content.Property.Remove("DisableIndexing");
        content.Property.Remove("EnableNoFollow");
        content.Property.Remove("OgContentType");
        content.Property.Remove("Categories");
    }
}

PostSerialization ApiModelFilter

  • This generic class adds properties to the ContentApiModel after the serialization before sending the request
  • Register that Service as Singleton 
 public class PostSerializationApiModelFilter : ContentApiModelFilter<ContentApiModel>
 {
     public override void Filter(ContentApiModel contentApiModel, ConverterContext converterContext)
     {
         try
         {
             // Set those values below as null, and configure ContentApiOption.IncludeNullValues = false in Initialization
             // then, response data will not include those ones.
             contentApiModel.ContentLink = null;
             contentApiModel.Language = null;
             contentApiModel.ExistingLanguages = null;
             contentApiModel.MasterLanguage = null;
             contentApiModel.ParentLink = null;
             contentApiModel.StartPublish = null;
             contentApiModel.StopPublish = null;
             contentApiModel.RouteSegment = null;
             contentApiModel.Changed = null;
             contentApiModel.Created = null;
             contentApiModel.Saved = null;
             contentApiModel.Status = null;
         }
         catch (Exception ex)
         {
             Console.WriteLine(ex.Message);
         }
     }
 }

Using these classes you can remove unwanted properties.

Hope that helps !! :-)  

Sep 04, 2024

Comments

Harinarayanan
Harinarayanan Oct 3, 2024 10:53 AM

Nice post, Thanks for sharing.

Ola Andersson
Ola Andersson Jan 10, 2025 10:28 AM

Hi! I can not get this to work with version 3.11.3 of the ContentDeliveryApi beacuse IncludeNullValues is marked as obsolete and casting an error if you try to change it. Is there any solution to this?

PuneetGarg
PuneetGarg Jan 10, 2025 03:24 PM

Hi @ola , use this instead options.IncludeEmptyContentProperties = false;

Please login to comment.
Latest blogs
From Prompting to Production: Optimizely Opal University Cohort and the Future of Agentic MarTech

Most organizations today are still playing with AI. They experiment with prompts, test ideas in isolated chats, and occasionally automate a task or...

Augusto Davalos | Apr 28, 2026

Six Compelling Reasons for Upgrading to CMS 13

Most software updates ask you to keep up. Optimizely CMS 13 asks something different — it asks whether your digital strategy is built for a world...

Muhammad Talha | Apr 28, 2026

Optimizely CMS 13 breaking changes: GetContentTypePropertyDisplayName

When upgrading from CMS 12 to 13, resolving property display names may not work as before. Here’s what changed.

Tomas Hensrud Gulla | Apr 27, 2026 |

Accelerate Optimizely DAM Adoption: Unlocking Business Value with Metadata Bulk Import

Accelerating Optimizely DAM Adoption How a Metadata-Driven Bulk Import Utility Unlocks Real Business Value Executive Summary For enterprises runnin...

Vaibhav | Apr 27, 2026