How do I return clean JSON from a WCF Service?

Question

I am trying to return some JSON from a WCF service. This service simply returns some content from my database. I can get the data. However, I am concerned about the format of my JSON. Currently, the JSON that gets returned is formatted like this:

{"d":"[{\"Age\":35,\"FirstName\":\"Peyton\",\"LastName\":\"Manning\"},{\"Age\":31,\"FirstName\":\"Drew\",\"LastName\":\"Brees\"},{\"Age\":29,\"FirstName\":\"Tony\",\"LastName\":\"Romo\"}]"}

In reality, I would like my JSON to be formatted as cleanly as possible. I believe (I may be incorrect), that the same collection of results, represented in clean JSON, should look like so:

[{ "Age": 35, "FirstName": "Peyton", "LastName": "Manning" }, { "Age": 31, "FirstName": "Drew", "LastName": "Brees" }, { "Age": 29, "FirstName": "Tony", "LastName": "Romo" }]

I have no idea where the “d” is coming from. I also have no clue why the escape characters are being inserted. My entity looks like the following:

[DataContract] public class Person { [DataMember] public string FirstName { get; set; } [DataMember] public string LastName { get; set; } [DataMember] public int Age { get; set; } public Person(string firstName, string lastName, int age) { this.FirstName = firstName; this.LastName = lastName; this.Age = age; } }

The service that is responsible for returning the content is defined as:

[ServiceContract(Namespace = "")] [AspNetCompatibilityRequirements(RequirementsMode = AspNetCompatibilityRequirementsMode.Allowed)] public class TestService { [OperationContract] [WebGet(ResponseFormat = WebMessageFormat.Json)] public string GetResults() { List<Person> results = new List<Person>(); results.Add(new Person("Peyton", "Manning", 35)); results.Add(new Person("Drew", "Brees", 31)); results.Add(new Person("Tony", "Romo", 29)); // Serialize the results as JSON DataContractJsonSerializer serializer = new DataContractJsonSerializer(results.GetType()); MemoryStream memoryStream = new MemoryStream(); serializer.WriteObject(memoryStream, results); // Return the results serialized as JSON string json = Encoding.Default.GetString(memoryStream.ToArray()); return json; } }

How do I return “clean” JSON from a WCF service? Thank you!

SOAP should return XML. You can use a REST endpoint to return JSON. Take a look stackoverflow.com/questions/186631/… — Akira Yamamoto
– Akira Yamamoto, Commented Sep 15, 2014 at 21:21
By the way, if anyone else comes across this and wonders why the "d" property is there, it's there to patch a JSON vulnerability. Removing it makes you vulnerable again. — Alex
– Alex, Commented Feb 2, 2015 at 14:14
@Alex - that Vulnerability depends on redefining the Array object, which is no longer possible in modern browsers. See stackoverflow.com/questions/16289894/… — Cheeso
– Cheeso, Commented Feb 20, 2015 at 20:52
That's good. :) Half my answer is still true though -- it WAS there to patch that vulnerability. — Alex
– Alex, Commented Feb 22, 2015 at 10:53

Cheeso · Accepted Answer · 2010-01-18 23:42:23Z

Change the return type of your GetResults to be List<Person>.
Eliminate the code that you use to serialize the List to a json string - WCF does this for you automatically.

Using your definition for the Person class, this code works for me:

public List<Person> GetPlayers() { List<Person> players = new List<Person>(); players.Add(new Person { FirstName="Peyton", LastName="Manning", Age=35 } ); players.Add(new Person { FirstName="Drew", LastName="Brees", Age=31 } ); players.Add(new Person { FirstName="Brett", LastName="Favre", Age=58 } ); return players; }

results:

[{"Age":35,"FirstName":"Peyton","LastName":"Manning"}, {"Age":31,"FirstName":"Drew","LastName":"Brees"}, {"Age":58,"FirstName":"Brett","LastName":"Favre"}]

(All on one line)

I also used this attribute on the method:

[WebInvoke(Method = "GET", RequestFormat = WebMessageFormat.Json, ResponseFormat = WebMessageFormat.Json, UriTemplate = "players")]

WebInvoke with Method= "GET" is the same as WebGet, but since some of my methods are POST, I use all WebInvoke for consistency.

The UriTemplate sets the URL at which the method is available. So I can do a GET on http://myserver/myvdir/JsonService.svc/players and it just works.

Also check out IIRF or another URL rewriter to get rid of the .svc in the URI.

Cheeso - I tried this approach before I posted this question. When I use this approach, I get an error that says "Endpoints using 'UriTemplate' cannot be used with 'System.ServiceModel.Description.WebScriptEnablingBehavior'." What am I doing wrong? Thank you!
use <webHttp/> instead of <webScriptEnablingBehavior/> in your .config file.
OK, I replaced <enableWebScript /> with <webHttp/> and that worked.
MGowen - FYI, best bet when asking a new question is to ...open a new question, rather than posting the question as a comment to an old answer.

JeremyWeir · Accepted Answer · 2011-06-03 19:12:56Z

If you want nice json without hardcoding attributes into your service classes,

use <webHttp defaultOutgoingResponseFormat="Json"/> in your behavior config

user517301 · Accepted Answer · 2010-11-23 10:45:55Z

This is accomplished in web.config for your webservice. Set the bindingBehavior to <webHttp> and you will see the clean JSON. The extra "[d]" is set by the default behavior which you need to overwrite.

See in addition this blogpost: http://blog.clauskonrad.net/2010/11/how-to-expose-json-endpoint-from-wcf.html

AcAnanth · Accepted Answer · 2015-11-23 10:29:33Z

I faced the same problem, and resolved it by changing the BodyStyle attribut value to "WebMessageBodyStyle.Bare" :

[OperationContract] [WebGet(BodyStyle = WebMessageBodyStyle.Bare, RequestFormat = WebMessageFormat.Json, ResponseFormat = WebMessageFormat.Json, UriTemplate = "GetProjectWithGeocodings/{projectId}")] GeoCod_Project GetProjectWithGeocodings(string projectId);

The returned object will no longer be wrapped.

Markus Jarderot · Accepted Answer · 2014-02-09 21:28:22Z

When you are using GET Method the contract must be this.

[WebGet(UriTemplate = "/", BodyStyle = WebMessageBodyStyle.Bare, ResponseFormat = WebMessageFormat.Json)] List<User> Get();

with this we have a json without the boot parameter

Aldo Flores @alduar http://alduar.blogspot.com

Osama Ibrahim · Accepted Answer · 2016-05-17 06:33:57Z

In your IServece.cs add the following tag : BodyStyle = WebMessageBodyStyle.Bare

 [WebInvoke(Method = "GET", ResponseFormat = WebMessageFormat.Json, BodyStyle = WebMessageBodyStyle.Bare, UriTemplate = "Getperson/{id}")] List<personClass> Getperson(string id);

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