ResponseFormat.Json returns xml [duplicate]

Answer 1

Very similar issue with many hours involved. I was using .net2.0 and the web services would not work on the production server running Windows Server 2008 R2 running IIS 7.5. All the issues with the web service returning XML had to deal with the web.config. I build an ajax based web application and copied the config file over to my config and it worked perfectly. The lines of code that needed to be updated are below:

<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>

in the web.server:

<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>

and:

<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>
</system.webServer>

I installed Microsoft Visual Web Developer 2008 on the production server and created a new web site, then selected the ASP.NET Web Service. I figured that if you create a project on the production server and it works, the config should have everything correct. Hope this helps.

Answer 2

I realise this question is old but just in case someone else is looking at this answer in the future ....

I have found (according to this http://encosia.com/asmx-and-json-common-mistakes-and-misconceptions/ and this http://weblogs.asp.net/scottgu/archive/2007/04/04/json-hijacking-and-how-asp-net-ajax-1-0-mitigates-these-attacks.aspx) that if you wish to consume JSON from an .ASMX it's necessary to :

• set the content type to 'application/json' and
• set the method to 'POST'

Up above Yisman says he doesn't want to restrict his service to POST requests but (according to those two references) it does seem that if you wish to use .ASMX and receive JSON that's what you're going to have to do.

Answer 3

Hi i just have the same problem when using a webservice set to return json, .net still wraps it in an XML wrapper. And my teacher tells me the correcta answer, that is to reinstalr tha .NET framework 4.0 and all problems was solve. thans José Beas!!!!

Answer 4

I realise this is somewhat old but I too was banging my head at this problem where even though the output type was specified as Json it was still being wrapped in XML. The problem with the solutions above for me was that I needed for it to be called by a GET.

The solution while not using a web service does the job for me. What I did was just create another aspx page and added it to my project, in the aspx page I built up the json object and did the following (All inside the Page_Load method):

Response.ContentType = "application/json";
Response.Write(JsonObject.ToString());
Response.End();

Then to call the "page" from the client you simply use the URL eg. "http://aspjsonpage.aspx?parameter=value"

And you get the Json you need.