How To Return Web API Data

Question

I've created an ASP.NET Web API. It seems to be working because I can enter the path into a browser and it displays data from my database tables in what looks like XML format. When I write a jQuery or AngularJS call to GET the data in my MVC website I get errors. After much travail I have discovered that (i think) jQuery or AngularJS want JSON objects, but the Web API must be returning XML objects. I say this because I finally get a success when I call jQuery $.ajax with a dataType: 'xml'. In my Web API I am returning List of my data objects. What is the best or normal way to structure this so that the data matches correctly back to the client AJAX calls?

You should be able to specify an accept header with a value of "application/json" to specifically request JSON. See http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1145588/cannot-properly-set-the-accept-http-header-with-jquery — Tony Hinkle, May 05 '16 at 15:29

score 0 · Accepted Answer · answered May 05 '16 at 15:23

C#

[WebMethod]
public string GetEmployeeData(int userId)
{
    Dictionary<string, object> returnData = Dictionary<string, object>();

    using(SqlConnection conn = new SqlConnection(connString))
    {
        //etc... etc...
    }

    var jsonSerializer = new JavaScriptSerializer();

    return jsonSerializer.Serialize(returnData);
}

Javascript:

$http.post('MyApp/GetEmployeeData', { userId: 1 }).then(function(response){
    $scope.myData = response.data;
}).catch(function(response) {
    //an error has occurred
});

How To Return Web API Data

1 Answers1