How to create a JSON WebService in c# ASP.Net with a valid JSON output and query with JQuery/Ajax

Question

I´ve created a c# ASP.Net JSON WebService. But I have big troubles with reading the data from this WebService because in my eyes the output is not a valid JSON format?

Normally you should get a [object, object] back as data. But I get [object, document] What I am doing wrong or what I am missing?

My current output looks like the following:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<string xmlns="http://tempuri.org/">{
  "Email": "[email protected]",
  "Active": true,
  "CreatedDate": "2013-01-20T00:00:00Z",
  "Roles": [
    "User",
    "Admin"
  ]
}</string>

This is my JQuery-Ajax call:

$.ajax({
   type: "GET",
   //dataType: "json", <-- When I uncomment this line the request fails :(
   url: "http://webservices.domain.local/service.asmx/getData?name=",

   success: function(data){
      console.log(data); // Output is: [object Document] instead of [object, object]
   },
   error: function(XMLHttpRequest, textStatus, errorThrown){

   }
});

This is the code from my WebService:

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Data;
using System.Linq;
using System.Runtime.Serialization;
using System.Web;
using System.Web.Script.Serialization;
using System.Web.Script.Services;
using System.Web.Services;
using Newtonsoft.Json;

namespace DataWebService
{
    /// <summary>
    /// Summary description for Service1
    /// </summary>
    [WebService(Namespace = "http://tempuri.org/")]
    [WebServiceBinding(ConformsTo = WsiProfiles.BasicProfile1_1)]
    [System.ComponentModel.ToolboxItem(false)]
    // To allow this Web Service to be called from script, using ASP.NET AJAX, uncomment the following line. 
    [System.Web.Script.Services.ScriptService]
    public class SPServices : System.Web.Services.WebService
    {
        [WebMethod]
        [ScriptMethod(UseHttpGet = true, ResponseFormat = ResponseFormat.Json)]
        public string getData(string name)
        {
            Account account = new Account
            {
                Email = "[email protected]",
                Active = true,
                CreatedDate = new DateTime(2013, 1, 20, 0, 0, 0, DateTimeKind.Utc),
                Roles = new List<string>
                  {
                    "User",
                    "Admin"
                  }
            };
            return JsonConvert.SerializeObject(account, Formatting.Indented);
        }
    }

    public class Account
    {
        public string Email { get; set; }
        public bool Active { get; set; }
        public DateTime CreatedDate { get; set; }
        public IList<string> Roles { get; set; }
    }
}

The WebConfig File:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<configuration>
    <configSections>
      <!--<sectionGroup name="system.web.extensions" type="System.Web.Configuration.SystemWebExtensionsSectionGroup, System.Web.Extensions, Version=3.5.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31BF3856AD364E35">
        <sectionGroup name="scripting" type="System.Web.Configuration.ScriptingSectionGroup, System.Web.Extensions, Version=3.5.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31BF3856AD364E35">
          <section name="scriptResourceHandler" type="System.Web.Configuration.ScriptingScriptResourceHandlerSection, System.Web.Extensions, Version=3.5.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31BF3856AD364E35" requirePermission="false" allowDefinition="MachineToApplication"/>
          <sectionGroup name="webServices" type="System.Web.Configuration.ScriptingWebServicesSectionGroup, System.Web.Extensions, Version=3.5.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31BF3856AD364E35">
            <section name="jsonSerialization" type="System.Web.Configuration.ScriptingJsonSerializationSection, System.Web.Extensions, Version=3.5.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31BF3856AD364E35" requirePermission="false" allowDefinition="Everywhere" />
            <section name="profileService" type="System.Web.Configuration.ScriptingProfileServiceSection, System.Web.Extensions, Version=3.5.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31BF3856AD364E35" requirePermission="false" allowDefinition="MachineToApplication" />
            <section name="authenticationService" type="System.Web.Configuration.ScriptingAuthenticationServiceSection, System.Web.Extensions, Version=3.5.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31BF3856AD364E35" requirePermission="false" allowDefinition="MachineToApplication" />
            <section name="roleService" type="System.Web.Configuration.ScriptingRoleServiceSection, System.Web.Extensions, Version=3.5.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31BF3856AD364E35" requirePermission="false" allowDefinition="MachineToApplication" />
          </sectionGroup>
        </sectionGroup>
      </sectionGroup>-->
    </configSections>  
    <appSettings/>
    <connectionStrings/>
    <system.web>
      <webServices>
        <protocols>
          <add name="HttpGet"/>
          <add name="HttpPost"/>
        </protocols>
      </webServices>
        <compilation debug="true" >
          <assemblies>
            <add assembly="System.Core, Version=3.5.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=B77A5C561934E089"/>
            <add assembly="System.Data.DataSetExtensions, Version=3.5.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=B77A5C561934E089"/>
            <add assembly="System.Web.Extensions, Version=3.5.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31BF3856AD364E35"/>
            <add assembly="System.Xml.Linq, Version=3.5.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=B77A5C561934E089"/>
          </assemblies>
        </compilation>
    <!--
      The <authentication> section enables configuration 
      of the security authentication mode used by 
      ASP.NET to identify an incoming user. 
    -->
    <authentication mode="Windows" />
    <!--
       The <customErrors> section enables configuration 
       of what to do if/when an unhandled error occurs 
       during the execution of a request. Specifically, 
       it enables developers to configure html error pages 
       to be displayed in place of a error stack trace.

       <customErrors mode="RemoteOnly" defaultRedirect="GenericErrorPage.htm">
         <error statusCode="403" redirect="NoAccess.htm" />
         <error statusCode="404" redirect="FileNotFound.htm" />
       </customErrors>
    -->
      <pages>
        <controls>
          <add tagPrefix="asp" namespace="System.Web.UI" assembly="System.Web.Extensions, Version=3.5.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31BF3856AD364E35"/>
          <add tagPrefix="asp" namespace="System.Web.UI.WebControls" assembly="System.Web.Extensions, Version=3.5.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31BF3856AD364E35"/>
        </controls>
      </pages>

      <httpHandlers>
        <remove verb="*" path="*.asmx"/>
        <add verb="*" path="*.asmx" validate="false" type="System.Web.Script.Services.ScriptHandlerFactory, System.Web.Extensions, Version=3.5.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31BF3856AD364E35"/>
        <!--<add verb="*" path="*_AppService.axd" validate="false" type="System.Web.Script.Services.ScriptHandlerFactory, System.Web.Extensions, Version=3.5.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31BF3856AD364E35"/>
        <add verb="GET,HEAD" path="ScriptResource.axd" type="System.Web.Handlers.ScriptResourceHandler, System.Web.Extensions, Version=3.5.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31BF3856AD364E35" validate="false"/>-->
      </httpHandlers>
      <httpModules>
        <add name="ScriptModule" type="System.Web.Handlers.ScriptModule, System.Web.Extensions, Version=3.5.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31BF3856AD364E35"/>
      </httpModules>
    </system.web>
    <system.codedom>
      <compilers>
        <compiler language="c#;cs;csharp" extension=".cs" warningLevel="4"
                  type="Microsoft.CSharp.CSharpCodeProvider, System, Version=2.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089">
          <providerOption name="CompilerVersion" value="v3.5"/>
          <providerOption name="WarnAsError" value="false"/>
        </compiler>
      </compilers>
    </system.codedom>
    <!-- 
        The system.webServer section is required for running ASP.NET AJAX under Internet
        Information Services 7.0.  It is not necessary for previous version of IIS.
    -->
    <system.webServer>
      <validation validateIntegratedModeConfiguration="false"/>
      <modules>
        <remove name="ScriptModule" />
        <add name="ScriptModule" preCondition="managedHandler" type="System.Web.Handlers.ScriptModule, System.Web.Extensions, Version=3.5.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31BF3856AD364E35"/>
      </modules>
      <handlers>
        <remove name="WebServiceHandlerFactory-Integrated"/>
        <remove name="ScriptHandlerFactory" />
        <remove name="ScriptHandlerFactoryAppServices" />
        <remove name="ScriptResource" />
        <add name="ScriptHandlerFactory" verb="*" path="*.asmx" preCondition="integratedMode"
             type="System.Web.Script.Services.ScriptHandlerFactory, System.Web.Extensions, Version=3.5.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31BF3856AD364E35"/>
        <add name="ScriptHandlerFactoryAppServices" verb="*" path="*_AppService.axd" preCondition="integratedMode"
             type="System.Web.Script.Services.ScriptHandlerFactory, System.Web.Extensions, Version=3.5.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31BF3856AD364E35"/>
        <add name="ScriptResource" preCondition="integratedMode" verb="GET,HEAD" path="ScriptResource.axd" type="System.Web.Handlers.ScriptResourceHandler, System.Web.Extensions, Version=3.5.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31BF3856AD364E35" />
      </handlers>
      <httpProtocol>
        <customHeaders>
          <add name="Access-Control-Allow-Origin" value="*" />
          <add name="Access-Control-Allow-Headers" value="Content-Type" />
        </customHeaders>
      </httpProtocol>
    </system.webServer>
    <runtime>
      <assemblyBinding appliesTo="v2.0.50727" xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v1">
        <dependentAssembly>
          <assemblyIdentity name="System.Web.Extensions" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35"/>
          <bindingRedirect oldVersion="1.0.0.0-1.1.0.0" newVersion="3.5.0.0"/>
        </dependentAssembly>
        <dependentAssembly>
          <assemblyIdentity name="System.Web.Extensions.Design" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35"/>
          <bindingRedirect oldVersion="1.0.0.0-1.1.0.0" newVersion="3.5.0.0"/>
        </dependentAssembly>
      </assemblyBinding>
    </runtime>
</configuration>

I would be really happy if someone could help me... I spent the whole weekend into this but I couldn´t find a solution for this... :-(

Answer 1

Add the following using:

using System.Web.Mvc;

And change your methode to :

[WebMethod]
[ScriptMethod(UseHttpGet = true, ResponseFormat = ResponseFormat.Json)]
public JsonResult getData(string name)
        {
            Account account = new Account
            {
                Email = "[email protected]",
                Active = true,
                CreatedDate = new DateTime(2013, 1, 20, 0, 0, 0, DateTimeKind.Utc),
                Roles = new List<string>
                  {
                    "User",
                    "Admin"
                  }
            };
            return Json(account);
        }

i think it will work like this

Answer 2

Try using the ASP.net web-api (part of MVC 4) instead as your core project. when a controller-action returns an object it will automatically be serialized to xml or json depending on the request. That is your browser demands either one and the service provides.

They've even ripped out the old MS-library for JSON and replaced it with the newtonsoft one. This means that some scenarios are supported by json serialization and not xml serialization. If you need those features, you can remove the default xml-serializer and only support json.

Good luck! :)