ASP.Net MVC: how to create a JsonResult based on raw Json Data

Question

Having a string containing the following raw Json data (simplified for the sake of the question):

  var MyString =  \"{ \'val\': \'apple\' }\";
         


        

Answer 1

I think you can use the JavaScriptSerializer class for this

var js = new System.Web.Script.Serialization.JavaScriptSerializer();
var jsonObject = js.Deserialize("{ 'val': 'apple' }", typeof(object));

Answer 2

The Json() method on Controller is actually a helper method that creates a new JsonResult. If we look at the source code for this class^*, we can see that it's not really doing that much -- just setting the content type to application/json, serializing your data object using a JavaScriptSerializer, and writing it the resulting string.. You can duplicate this behavior (minus the serialization, since you've already done that) by returning a ContentResult from your controller instead.

public ActionResult JsonData(int id) {
    var jsonStringFromSomewhere = "{ 'val': 'apple' }";
    // Content() creates a ContentResult just as Json() creates a JsonResult
    return Content(jsonStringFromSomewhere, "application/json");
}

---

^* Starting in MVC2, JsonResult also throws an exception if the user is making an HTTP GET request (as opposed to say a POST). Allowing users to retrieve JSON using an HTTP GET has security implications which you should be aware of before you permit this in your own app.

Answer 3

The way I have generated json data from a string is by using JavaScriptResult in the controller:

public JavaScriptResult jsonList( string jsonString)
{
   jsonString = "var jsonobject = new Array(" + jsonString + ");";
   return JavaScript(jsonString)
}

Then when you request pass the json string to that action in your controller, the result will be a file with javascript headers.