MVC 4 Web API - JSON serialization for custom objects

Question

I have several objects as followed:

public class Person
{
    string FirstName;
    string LastName;
    public Person(string fn, string ln)
    {
        FirstName = fn;
        LastName = ln;
    }
}

public class Team
{
    string TeamName;
    Person TeamLeader;
    List<Person> TeamMembers;

    public Team(string name, Person lead, List<Person> members)
    {
        TeamName = name;
        TeamLeader = lead;
        TeamMembers = members;
    }
}

public class Response
{
    int ResponseCode;
    string ResponseMessage;
    object ResponsePayload;
    public Response(int code, string message, object payload)
    {
        ResponseCode = code;
        ResponseMessage = message;
        ResponsePayload = payload;
    }
}

(1) This is the Person controller with Get method:

public class PersonController : ApiController
{
    public Response Get()
    {
        Person tom = new Person("Tom", "Cruise");
        Response response = new Response(1, "It works!", tom);
        return response;
    }
}

(2) This is the Team controller with Get method:

public class TeamController : ApiController
{
    public Response Get()
    {
        Person tom = new Person("Tom", "Cruise");
        Person cindy = new Person("Cindy", "Cullen");
        Person jason = new Person("Jason","Lien");
        Team awesome = new Team("Awesome", jason, new List<Person>(){tom,cindy});
        Response response = new Response(1, "It works!", awesome);
        return response;
    }
}

What I want is after user calling http://www.app123.com/api/person

I receive JSON result like this:

{
   "ResponseCode":1,
   "ResponseMessage":"It works!",
   "ResponsePayload":
   {
     "FirstName":"Tom",
     "LastName":"Cruise"
   } 
}

and calling http://www.app123.com/api/team

I receive JSON result like this:

{
   "ResponseCode":1,
   "ResponseMessage":"It works!",
   "ResponsePayload":
   {
     "TeamLeader":
      {
          "FirstName":"Jason",
          "LastName":"Lien"
      }
      "TeamMember":
      [
         {
            "FirstName":"Tom",
            "LastName":"Cruise"
         },
         {
             "FirstName":"Cindy",
             "LastName":"Cullen"
         }
      ]
   } 
}

But they never work for me, do you know how to produce the JSON result like above with ASP.NET MVC 4?

Tien Do · Accepted Answer · 2013-06-13 07:35:52Z

10

First, make sure you are using JSON formatter, e.g. adding following code to Application_Start

var json = config.Formatters.JsonFormatter;
json.SerializerSettings.Formatting = Newtonsoft.Json.Formatting.Indented;

Second, just returning your custom object, JSON formatter will do the rest and you'll get nice JSON data on the client side.

[HttpGet]
public HttpResponseMessage GetPeopleList()
{
    var people = // create a list of person here...
    return Request.CreateResponse(HttpStatusCode.OK, people);
}

answered Jun 13, 2013 at 7:35

Tien Do

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1 Comment

Ryan S Over a year ago

do you add that code you pasted within the WebApiConfig.cs?

Tuyen Nguyen · Accepted Answer · 2013-04-05 14:40:20Z

5

This one works for me:

public object Get()
{
    Person tom = new Person("Tom", "Cruise");
    Person cindy = new Person("Cindy", "Cullen");
    Person jason = new Person("Jason", "Lien");
    Team awesome = new Team("Awesome", jason, new List<Person>() { tom, cindy });
    Response response = new Response(1, "It works!", awesome);
    JsonResult jsonResult = new JsonResult { 
        Data= response,
        JsonRequestBehavior = JsonRequestBehavior.AllowGet
    };
    return jsonResult.Data;
}

We also need to anotate [Serializable] for Response, Person and Team classes.

edited Apr 5, 2013 at 14:40

answered Apr 4, 2013 at 14:30

Tuyen Nguyen

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1 Comment

Sandy Over a year ago

this is what I meant in my answer, returning JSON result along with JSON beahavior!

Sandy · Accepted Answer · 2013-04-04 06:05:25Z

2

you need to return JSON. Try this

public class PersonController : ApiController
{
public Response Get()
{
    Person tom = new Person("Tom", "Cruise");
    Response response = new Response(1, "It works!", tom);
     return Json(response, JsonRequestBehavior.AllowGet);
}
}

and follow same in other controller method too..

answered Apr 4, 2013 at 6:05

Sandy

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2 Comments

Sandy Over a year ago

let me know if it didn't help you.

mgrenier Over a year ago

Json is not a member of ApiController, its a member of Controller this doesn't work.

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