Using MVC 4 as Web Service

Question

I'm now trying to build a web service based on MVC 4 and client using HTML. The problem is my HTML file is put outside the application and my MVC service is running on Visual Studio IIS Express. I don't know if it causes my problem or because of any missing anything in Web.config.

Here is my code of Index method inside my Controller:

public ActionResult Index() {
    return Content("It works");
}

And this is my code in client side:

$.ajax({
    url: 'http://localhost:54502/<MyControllerName>/Index',
    type: 'POST',
    datatype:"JSON",
    contentType:"application/json; charset=utf-8",
    success: function(data) {
        alert(data);
    },
    error: function(data) {
        alert("error");
    },
        complete: function(jqXHR,status) {          
    }
});

The problem is it always alert out "error" and nothing seems to work. Any help would be highly appriciated!

Have you tried navigating to the URL in your webbrowser? What do you see? — Rowland Shaw
– Rowland Shaw, Commented Sep 2, 2013 at 15:37

garethppls · Accepted Answer · 2013-09-02 15:44:12Z

2

The content isn't serialised as JSON. If it is HTML it is going to be of content-type text/html rather than application/json.

I'd recommend using WebAPI or WCF's WebHttpBinding for this.

answered Sep 2, 2013 at 15:44

garethppls

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8 Comments

Duy Tran Over a year ago

My intention is to use Json format, such as return Json(new Object[] { "success", returnObj }, JsonRequestBehavior.AllowGet); But it didn't work so i have to write simple test case as above and it doesn't seem to work, either.

garethppls Over a year ago

If you look at the response in Fiddler2 or some other tool you'll see that the message will have content-type html. You should consider using WebAPI which is built for webservices, or WCF's WebHttpBinding which can automatically serialise your objects into JSON or XML for consumption.

Duy Tran Over a year ago

Is there no way to write a web service with MVC 4?

garethppls Over a year ago

WebAPI is an extension of ASP.NET MVC 4. (asp.net/web-api). Different tools are best used in different situations. Luckily C# and ASP.NET give us that selection. Knowing when to use what is important.

Duy Tran Over a year ago

I found out my solution. I will update my answer below, thanks for your help.

|

Duy Tran · Accepted Answer · 2013-09-06 10:19:14Z

1

I figured out my solution and it related to Cross-Domain problem. I use WebAPI and install CORS package using NuGet and now I can access the web service via ajax call even outside my localhost domain.

answered Sep 6, 2013 at 10:19

Duy Tran

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