return an array of strings .net c# web api

Question

I'm new to c# and the whole .net platform so I'm struggling with a lot of what are probably pretty basic things. go easy on me. All I'm trying to do right now is return an array of json objects (as strings, obviously).

[HttpPost]
public string[] PostJsonString([FromBody] string[] arr)
    {

        return arr;

    }

And in Postman, I'm sending

[{"someProp":"someVal"},{ "aThing":"someOtherThing"}]

So painfully simple... Literally only trying to respond with the exact contents of the request body, but for some reason I get back an empty array. Does anyone have any idea why this might be? I've tried returning the array as a string with str.toArray but then I get back the object type, i.e. "System.String[]". I just want a simple JSON response with the objects in an array.

Any tips are appreciated. Even if it's just pointing me to a helpful resource. I've exhausted all the relevant S/O questions and a) don't see one that quite addresses what i'm trying to accomplish, and b) have still tried some of the solutions to no avail.

your json doesn't represent a string array, its more like a dictionary or custom object. A string array would be ["someProp", "someVal", "aThing", "someOtherThing"] — Jonesopolis
– Jonesopolis, Commented Jan 21, 2016 at 21:17
ahhh. mkay. @Jonesopolis, i gotcha. so even though the json is technically a string (being that http doesn't actually know what an object is, right?), it still behaves as an object? is that correct? — spb
– spb, Commented Jan 21, 2016 at 21:30
@B.ClayShannon danke, herr Shannon. I've looked at it, but I guess I just didn't realize that the JSON was already behaving as objects when being sent via http. — spb
– spb, Commented Jan 21, 2016 at 21:32

s k · Accepted Answer · 2016-05-11 05:50:14Z

2

[HttpPost]
public JsonResult PostJsonString([FromBody] string[] arr)
{
    return Json(arr);
}

answered May 11, 2016 at 5:50

s k

5,3426 gold badges52 silver badges79 bronze badges

Sign up to request clarification or add additional context in comments.

Comments

Amadeusz Wieczorek · Accepted Answer · 2016-01-21 21:26:45Z

1

Your controller will receive a single string

"[{\"someProp\":\"someVal\"},{ \"aThing\":\"someOtherThing\"}]"

Change the method's signature to

public string PostJsonString([FromBody] string arr)

When you want to work with the JSON array, I recommend using JSON.net (aka Newtonsoft.Json) and JArray.Parse or JObject.Parse

using Newtonsoft.Json
// ...
JArray a = JArray.Parse(json);

answered Jan 21, 2016 at 21:26

Amadeusz Wieczorek

3,2272 gold badges31 silver badges32 bronze badges

1 Comment

spb Over a year ago

SUCCESS! Thanks, mate.

[HttpPost]         public JArray PostJsonString([FromBody] string arr)         {              JArray a = JArray.Parse(arr);               return a;          }

also, i wasn't sending the array inside a string initially. i reformatted my request from [json in here] to '[json in here]'. just a note for posterity. ;)

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

return an array of strings .net c# web api

2 Answers 2

Comments

1 Comment

Your Answer

Hot Network Questions

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

2 Answers 2

Comments

1 Comment

Your Answer

Sign up or log in

Post as a guest

Related