C# ASP.NET web service - Trying to deserialize JSON and getting an empty object

Question

Ok, I know I must be missing something simple.

Thank-you for your help!

[EDITED to clarify]

The problem I'm having is that the JSON input is not being deserialized properly or something and is giving me an empty XML result. I want the output in XML format, I just don't want it to be blank.

The code is a simplified version of my actual code. In my real code I'm retreiving the JSON from another website, and I'm trying to parse it and return it in an XML soap request.

To simplify things, I took the JSON string and simply hard coded it as an example.

[WebService(Namespace="my.soap")]
public class StockQuote : WebService
{

  [WebMethod(Description="",EnableSession=false)]
  public ResultSet IBM()
  {
    JavaScriptSerializer serializer = new JavaScriptSerializer();
    string json = "{\"ResultSet\":{\"Query\":\"ibm\",\"Result\":[{\"symbol\":\"IBM\",\"name\": \"International Business Machines Corp.\",\"exch\": \"NYQ\",\"type\": \"S\",\"exchDisp\":\"NYSE\",\"typeDisp\":\"Equity\"},{\"symbol\":\"IBM.F\",\"name\": \"IBM\",\"exch\": \"FRA\",\"type\": \"S\",\"exchDisp\":\"Frankfurt\",\"typeDisp\":\"Equity\"},{\"symbol\":\"IBM.DE\",\"name\": \"IBM\",\"exch\": \"GER\",\"type\": \"S\",\"exchDisp\":\"XETRA\",\"typeDisp\":\"Equity\"},{\"symbol\":\"^AXI\",\"name\": \"Stlmt ID - NASDAQ OMX Alpha IBM\",\"exch\": \"NAS\",\"type\": \"I\",\"exchDisp\":\"NASDAQ\",\"typeDisp\":\"Index\"},{\"symbol\":\"^IVSPY\",\"name\": \"NASDAQ OMX Alpha IBM vs. SPY\",\"exch\": \"NAS\",\"type\": \"I\",\"exchDisp\":\"NASDAQ\",\"typeDisp\":\"Index\"},{\"symbol\":\"IBMSX\",\"name\": \"Invesco Multi-Sector B\",\"exch\": \"NAS\",\"type\": \"M\",\"exchDisp\":\"NASDAQ\",\"typeDisp\":\"Fund\"},{\"symbol\":\"IBM.BE\",\"name\": \"IBM\",\"exch\": \"BER\",\"type\": \"S\",\"exchDisp\":\"Berlin\",\"typeDisp\":\"Equity\"},{\"symbol\":\"IBM.SG\",\"name\": \"IBM\",\"exch\": \"STU\",\"type\": \"S\",\"exchDisp\":\"Stuttgart\",\"typeDisp\":\"Equity\"},{\"symbol\":\"IBM.BA\",\"name\": \"International Business Machines Corp.\",\"exch\": \"BUE\",\"type\": \"S\",\"exchDisp\":\"Buenos Aires\",\"typeDisp\":\"Equity\"},{\"symbol\":\"IBM.L\",\"name\": \"International Business Machines Corp.\",\"exch\": \"LSE\",\"type\": \"S\",\"exchDisp\":\"London\",\"typeDisp\":\"Equity\"}]}}";
    return serializer.Deserialize<ResultSet>(json);
  }
}

[Serializable]
public class ResultSet
{
  public string Query;
  public ResSet[] Result;
}

[Serializable]
public class ResSet
{
  public string symbol;
  public string name;
  public string exch;
  public string type;
  public string exchDisp;
  public string typeDisp;
}

I'm getting the following returned by the web service instead of the formatted object:

 <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?> 
    <ResultSet xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
               xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" xmlns="my.soap" />

Have you tried using a debugger to see if your JSON URL is formatted properly, or to view the actual JSON data that's being returned. I use [Web Development Helper](http://projects.nikhilk.net/WebDevHelper), but there are several others out there. — WEFX, May 09 '11 at 17:53
I'll have to check that out to see if it helps. I had looked around for some debugging tools prior, but none of the options were straight forward to use. I've been using Notepad to create this web service, which has limited my debugging options. I should just see if I can move to Visual Web Developer Express. — Doug, May 09 '11 at 18:00
@user745588: It's formatted properly, I checked using an online [JSON validator](http://jsonformatter.curiousconcept.com/). The problem is that your your class doesn't contain a **property** named `PropertySet` (see [answer](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/5940528/c-asp-net-web-service-trying-to-deserialize-json-and-getting-an-empty-object/5940709#5940709) below). — vgru, May 09 '11 at 18:22

vgru · Accepted Answer · 2011-05-09T18:24:32.617

Your JSON string represents an object with a property named ResultSet, containing nested data.

Note the difference between a JSON serialized ResultSet:

{
   "Query": "ibm",
   "Result": [ ... ]
}

And a JSON serialized object which contains a ResultSet:

{
   "ResultSet":
   {
      "Query": "ibm",
      "Result": [ ... ]
   }
}

In other words, it will work if you omit ResultSet from the input string:

string json = @"{"Query":"ibm","Result":[ ... ]}";

Or, if you deserialize the string into a class which has a property named ResultSet:

public class ResultSetWrapper
{
    public ResultSet ResultSet;
}

In which case you will need to use:

return serializer.Deserialize<ResultSetWrapper>(json);

Note that [Serializable] attribute has nothing to do with XML serialization, and is not needed. To control the output of the XmlSerializer, use attributes from the System.Xml.Serialization namespace.

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered May 09 '11 at 17:50

0

try adding [ScriptMethod(ResponseFormat = ResponseFormat.Json)] under the webmethod like such:

[WebMethod(Description="",EnableSession=false)]
[ScriptMethod(ResponseFormat = ResponseFormat.Json)]

answered May 09 '11 at 17:50

capdragon

14,565
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That gives me a compile error. In any case, I still want my response to be XML, my issue is that I can't deserialize the JSON to turn it into an XML response. – Doug May 09 '11 at 17:57

score 0 · Answer 3 · edited May 23 '17 at 10:34

0

Your web service has not been configured to output JSON, it's setup for XML. See this SO post on how to set it up.

edited May 23 '17 at 10:34

Community

1
1

answered May 09 '11 at 17:50

Zachary

6,522
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I want the web service to return XML, it is processing JSON data though, and not doing that properly. That's the part I'm trying to fix. – Doug May 09 '11 at 17:55

C# ASP.NET web service - Trying to deserialize JSON and getting an empty object

3 Answers3