[Client bug]: Graph SDK does not de-serialize next links to strongly typed requests in batch requests, but does in non-batched requests

[will-bartlett]

I was experimenting with batching in the Graph API and SDK.

I'm creating a request to get members of a group:

var request = GraphClient.Groups[groupId].Members.Request();

When I send this request using the non-batch method:

var response = await request.GetAsync();
Console.WriteLine($"response.NextPageRequest is {response.NextPageRequest == null ? "null" : "not null"}");

The NextPageRequest property is populated as expected.

When I combine it into a batch request:

var batchRequestContent = new BatchRequestContent();
var batchRequestId = batchRequestContent.AddBatchRequestStep(request);
var batchResponse = await GraphClient.Batch.Request().PostAsync(batchRequestContent);
var batchItemResponse = await batchResponse.GetResponseByIdAsync<GroupMembersCollectionWithReferencesResponse>(batchRequestId);
var itemResponse = batchItemResponse.Value;
Console.WriteLine($"itemResponse.NextPageRequest is {itemResponse.NextPageRequest == null ? "null" : "not null"}");

The NextPageRequest property is always null. To correct this, I have added some extra code

const string nextLinkKey = "@odata.nextLink";
if (batchItemResponse.AdditionalData.TryGetValue(nextLinkKey, out object nextLinkObj) && nextLinkObj is string nextLinkString) { itemResponse.InitializeNextPageRequest(GraphClient, nextLinkString); }

Which fixes up this issue.

This feels like a bug - batching should return the same objects, just in a collection, not different objects, or require different steps.

I am using version 3.19.0, the latest from nuget.org, running on Windows.

I am a Microsoft employee - you can feel free to reach to me directly on Teams with any questions. AB#7230

[MIchaelMainer]

This is a new scenario for batch support where we need to support the creation of a *CollectionPage with NextPageRequest populated with the request to get the next page.

[andrueastman]

With the latest Kiota previews, handling the responses for collections are now consistent with the API response shape and provide the same experience when making calls for batch and non-batch endpoints as documented at https://github.com/microsoftgraph/msgraph-sdk-dotnet/blob/feature/5.0/docs/upgrade-to-v5.md#collections.

Closing this one for now.