mvc return JsonArray as Json

Question

I'm trying to return a dynamic json array to the client side in mvc.

So far I have

            var a = 1;
            var b = 10;
            var jsonArray = new JArray();

            for (var i = 1; i < 5; i++)
            {
                var json = new JObject();
                json.Add("field" + a, b);

                jsonArray.Add(json);
                a++;
                b++;
            }

            return Json(jsonArray);

this returns to the client

[[[[]]]]

I have tried converting the JsonArray to a string first and setting it to have no formatter, but that doesn't return valid json according to fiddler.

I'd expect the result to be soemething like:

[{field1:10},{field2:11},{field3:12}]

Can anyone point out what I'm doing wrong

nick_w · Accepted Answer · 2012-11-27 00:35:04Z

2

This passed muster in Fiddler:

return Json(new { JsonArray = jsonArray.ToString() });

Fiddler seems to need JSON objects in the form { "FieldName": value }, hence my creation of an anonymous object. You could use any name in place of JsonArray.

Simply returning Json(jsonArray) isn't going to work because jsonArray will have an underlying representation that is dissimilar to your desired output, hence the output you are seeing when you serialize it.

answered Nov 27, 2012 at 0:35

nick_w

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3 Comments

bcr Over a year ago

This filled my response with \r\n characters. I need to return results without them.

Cargowire Over a year ago

@bcr if your action method return type is 'object' and you return JArray mvc will serialize jarray (which won't be the json it contains). If your action returns JsonResult as answered by nick_w the tostring will mean the entire jarray is just an escaped string. You'd need to use ContentResult with contentType 'application/json' and the jarray.ToString() as the content value

Cargowire Over a year ago

HttpResponseMessage for api controllers

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