ASP.NET MVC Comma Separated Values Model Binder

In some scenarios such as data filtering it becomes necessary to pass multiple values to a single collection-typed request parameter. In typical flows this is achieved by passing multiple pairs of key and value parameters to the request.

/path/to/foo?key=value1&key=value2&key=value3

While this works well, sometimes it is desirable to have something that is more human-readable. In an effort to satisfy that requirement, I have built a custom model binder to handle passing multiple values to a single parameter in the form of a single comma separated value.

/path/to/foo?key=value1,value2,value3

This CommaSeparatedValuesModelBinder supports both generic collections and standard array types so long as the underlying type of the collection inherits from IConvertible (int, string, etc). In addition to supporting a comma separated value assignment, the implementation also maintains support for the default format of multiple key and value pairs.

Here's the code:

public class CommaSeparatedValuesModelBinder : DefaultModelBinder
{
    private static readonly MethodInfo ToArrayMethod = typeof(Enumerable).GetMethod("ToArray");

    protected override object GetPropertyValue(ControllerContext controllerContext, ModelBindingContext bindingContext, 
        PropertyDescriptor propertyDescriptor, IModelBinder propertyBinder)
    {
        if (propertyDescriptor.PropertyType.GetInterface(typeof (IEnumerable).Name) != null)
        {
            var actualValue = bindingContext.ValueProvider.GetValue(propertyDescriptor.Name);

            if (actualValue != null && !String.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(actualValue.AttemptedValue) &&
                actualValue.AttemptedValue.Contains(","))
            {
                var valueType = propertyDescriptor.PropertyType.GetElementType() ??
                                propertyDescriptor.PropertyType.GetGenericArguments().FirstOrDefault();

                if (valueType != null && valueType.GetInterface(typeof (IConvertible).Name) != null)
                {
                    var list = (IList) Activator.CreateInstance(typeof (List<>).MakeGenericType(valueType));

                    foreach (var splitValue in actualValue.AttemptedValue.Split(new[] {','}))
                    {
                        if(valueType.IsEnum)
                        {
                            try
                            {
                                list.Add(Enum.Parse(valueType, splitValue));
                            }
                            catch { }
                        }
                        else
                        {
                            list.Add(Convert.ChangeType(splitValue, valueType));
                        }
                    }

                    if (propertyDescriptor.PropertyType.IsArray)
                    {
                        return ToArrayMethod.MakeGenericMethod(valueType).Invoke(this, new[] {list});
                    }
                    return list;
                }
            }
        }

        return base.GetPropertyValue(controllerContext, bindingContext, propertyDescriptor, propertyBinder);
    }
}