Cannot implicity convert type string to List use JavascriptSerializer

Question

I tryed Serialize my List of phones:

in my application, i use javascriptSerializer in my controller:

[HttpGet]
    public List<Phone> GetPhones()
    {
        JavaScriptSerializer serializer = new JavaScriptSerializer();
        var serializedResult = serializer.Serialize(new TestPhoneService().GetTestData());
        return serializedResult;
    }

My Method GetPhones() should return phones in json format, but i have error: Cannot implicitly convert type 'string' to 'System.Collections.Generic.List... May be somebody knows how i can configure javascript serializer for resolve it error ? Thanks for your Answers!

Serialize() returns a string therefore your serializedResult is a string and the return type of the method is List<Phone>. Change your method return type to string if that is what you need. — Vishnu Prasad V
– Vishnu Prasad V, Commented Apr 4, 2016 at 12:11

Rion Williams · Accepted Answer · 2016-04-04 16:33:56Z

1

Currently, your GetPhones() method is expecting a List<Phone> to be returned, however you are currently returning the result of the Serialize() method which is going to yield a string.

If you want to explicitly return a List<Phone>, then you don't really need to serialize your content at all and you could simply return the collection as follows :

[HttpGet]
public List<Phone> GetPhones()
{
    return new TestPhoneService().GetTestData();
}

Likewise, if you wanted to return a JSON serialized version of your collection, you could try changing your return type to JsonResult and using the Json() method when returning your collection :

[HttpGet]
public JsonResult GetPhones()
{
    return Json(new TestPhoneService().GetTestData());
}

answered Apr 4, 2016 at 16:33

Rion Williams

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1 Comment

Uladz Kha Over a year ago

Thank you. for use your 1st example, i just wrote the next code in WebApiConfi.cs and config json and disable xml forrmatters: var json = GlobalConfiguration.Configuration.Formatters; json.JsonFormatter.UseDataContractJsonSerializer = true; json.Remove(json.XmlFormatter);

diiN__________ · Accepted Answer · 2016-04-04 12:10:15Z

0

You get this error because JavascriptSerializer.Serialize(...) returns a string but your method returns a list of phones. Change the return type of GetPhones() to string.

answered Apr 4, 2016 at 12:10

diiN__________

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Comments

Karthik M R · Accepted Answer · 2016-04-04 12:28:24Z

0

To return Json format from the action method GetPhones(), change the return type from List to ActionResult or JsonResult type. And use return Json(serializedResult) instead of return serializedResult;

answered Apr 4, 2016 at 12:28

Karthik M R

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