Serializing complex objects from Camunda.Api.Client and accessing them in workers

[akrsmv]

Hello, I have an asp netcore 3.1 application that connects to the vanilla docker camunda image. We are solely using external workers that are implemented with the Camunda.Worker library.

I want to pass complex object to a running instance, form my aspnet api project, however whatever I tried I am getting the error:

Type Object not in [Json]

the code I am using for starting a process instance with complex variables:

pseudo code:

           public class ComplObject {
                public string prop1 {get; set;}
           }
            var myObjectVariable = new ComplObject { prop1 = "abc"} 

            var processParams = new StartProcessInstance
            {
                BusinessKey = "my business key",
                SkipIoMappings = false,
                Variables = new Dictionary<string, VariableValue>
                 {
                     "myComplexObject", VariableValue.FromObject(myObjectVariable )
                 }
            };

            Camunda.ProcessDefinitions[someId].StartProcessInstance(processParams);

Later when I try to obtain the variable from a worker, I am getting the above-mentioned error Type Object not in [Json]

I saw lots of tests in Camunda.Worker project and being only in the context of Camunda.Worker I have no problems using the methods like .AsJson .AsString.

I think there is something around Camunda.Api.Client.VariableValue and Camunda.Worker.Variable classes that I am missing.

the only workaround so far for me is to pass an instance of Camunda.Worker.Variable to the Camunda.Api.Client.VariableValue.FromObject method, explicitly stating the ValueType.Json. However later on, when I want to obtain the typed variables from a worker, I need to do this extra hacky code:

JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<Variable>(camundaVariable.Value.ToString()).AsJson<T>();

I wonder what am I doing wrong.

Please advice