Returning XML and Json formatted data from MVC controller

Question

I need to create an MVC 4 controller that can return the same data either in a JSON format for an XML format depending on the request from the view. Would it be better to create two controllers or can this be done with one controller? If it can be done with one controller, can someone show me how this is done?

THanks.

score 0 · Accepted Answer · answered Oct 23 '17 at 18:35

You can certainly have add an Action to your existing controller that will return a JSON object as the result; luckily MVC has a nice, built-in way of returning JSON:

public JsonResult MyJsonAction()
{
    var result = "my data";

    return Json(result);
}

As for returning XML, there seems to be some useful answers on this question

Returning XML and Json formatted data from MVC controller

1 Answers1