C# emitter ignores @encode(string) on boolean model properties

[JoshLove-msft]

Description

The C# HTTP client emitter cannot pass the http/encode/boolean Spector scenarios. A model property declared as @encode(string) value: boolean is generated as a C# bool, but its JSON serialization ignores the string encoding and writes a JSON boolean.

Reproduction

From packages/http-client-csharp on current main:

pwsh eng/scripts/Test-Spector.ps1 -filter "http/encode/boolean"

Exercise the generated typed methods with new BoolAsStringProperty(true/false) for these scenarios:

• Property/trueLower
• Property/falseLower
• Property/trueUpper
• Property/falseMixed

All four requests receive HTTP 400 from Spector.

Generated behavior

BoolAsStringProperty.Serialization.cs currently emits:

writer.WritePropertyName("value"u8);
writer.WriteBooleanValue(Value);

The scenarios require string values ("true", "false", "TRUE", and "FaLsE") in both the request and response bodies. Deserialization likewise needs to honor the boolean string encoding.

Expected behavior

The generated serialization and deserialization should respect @encode(string) for boolean model properties so the http/encode/boolean Spector scenarios pass.

[github-actions]

🎯 Issue Triage

The C# HTTP client emitter fails to honor @encode(string) on boolean model properties, causing JSON serialization to emit a boolean literal instead of the required string value ("true", "false", "TRUE", "FaLsE"), which causes all four http/encode/boolean Spector scenarios to return HTTP 400.

Category: Bug
Area: emitter:client:csharp

🔍 Analysis

• Affected component: BoolAsStringProperty.Serialization.cs generated by packages/http-client-csharp
• Root cause: The emitter maps @encode(string) value: boolean to a C# bool but uses WriteBooleanValue() in the serializer rather than WriteStringValue() with the appropriate casing. Deserialization similarly ignores the string encoding.
• Spector scenarios failing: Property/trueLower, Property/falseLower, Property/trueUpper, Property/falseMixed
• Fix scope: The emitter needs to detect @encode(string) on boolean properties and emit string-based serialization/deserialization that preserves the exact casing required by the encoding.

📝 Suggested next steps

• In the C# emitter, detect @encode(string) on boolean typed properties and generate WriteStringValue(Value ? "true" : "false") (with appropriate casing per encoding variant) instead of WriteBooleanValue(Value)
• Add corresponding deserialization logic that parses the string back to bool
• Run pwsh eng/scripts/Test-Spector.ps1 -filter "http/encode/boolean" to verify all four scenarios pass

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