How to avoid XML in JSON APIs in C#

Question

My API i built on C#.net

It suppose to return JSON file.

but it wraps it with XML header!!

Is there a way to get rid of the header and only send the JSON text?

Here is an example

I am calling

This XML file does not appear to have any style information associated with it. The document tree is shown below.
<string xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/2003/10/Serialization/">
<link type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" id="dark-mode-custom-link"/>
<link type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" id="dark-mode-general-link"/>
<style lang="en" type="text/css" id="dark-mode-custom-style"/>
<style lang="en" type="text/css" id="dark-mode-native-style"/>
<style lang="en" type="text/css" id="dark-mode-native-sheet"/>
[
   {
      "PtsID":1,
      "PtsCode":"10014352-1208570.pdf",
      "PtsName":"10014352-1208570.pdf",
      "DOB":null,
      "Gender":null,
      "VisitID":1,
      "VisitType":"Inpatient",
      "VisitDate":"10/01/2022",
      "DischargeDate":"10/01/2022",
      "RepID":1,
      "RepDate":"10/01/2022",
      "RepType":"Unidentified",
      "RepDesc":null,
      "VisitStatus":"Updated",
      "RepStatus":"Completed"
   },
   {
      "PtsID":1,
      "PtsCode":"10014352-1208570.pdf",
      "PtsName":"10014352-1208570.pdf",
      "DOB":null,
      "Gender":null,
      "VisitID":1,
      "VisitType":"Inpatient",
      "VisitDate":"10/01/2022",
      "DischargeDate":"10/01/2022",
      "RepID":1,
      "RepDate":"10/01/2022",
      "RepType":"Unidentified",
      "RepDesc":null,
      "VisitStatus":"Updated",
      "RepStatus":"Completed"
   },
   {
      "PtsID":1,
      "PtsCode":"10014352-1208570.pdf",
      "PtsName":"10014352-1208570.pdf",
      "DOB":null,
      "Gender":null,
      "VisitID":1,
      "VisitType":"Inpatient",
      "VisitDate":"10/01/2022",
      "DischargeDate":"10/01/2022",
      "RepID":1,
      "RepDate":"10/01/2022",
      "RepType":"Unidentified",
      "RepDesc":null,
      "VisitStatus":"Updated",
      "RepStatus":"Completed"
   },
   {
      "PtsID":1,
      "PtsCode":"10014352-1208570.pdf",
      "PtsName":"10014352-1208570.pdf",
      "DOB":null,
      "Gender":null,
      "VisitID":1,
      "VisitType":"Inpatient",
      "VisitDate":"10/01/2022",
      "DischargeDate":"10/01/2022",
      "RepID":1,
      "RepDate":"10/01/2022",
      "RepType":"Unidentified",
      "RepDesc":null,
      "VisitStatus":"Updated",
      "RepStatus":"Completed"
   },
   {
      "PtsID":1,
      "PtsCode":"10014352-1208570.pdf",
      "PtsName":"10014352-1208570.pdf",
      "DOB":null,
      "Gender":null,
      "VisitID":1,
      "VisitType":"Inpatient",
      "VisitDate":"10/01/2022",
      "DischargeDate":"10/01/2022",
      "RepID":1,
      "RepDate":"10/01/2022",
      "RepType":"Unidentified",
      "RepDesc":null,
      "VisitStatus":"Updated",
      "RepStatus":"Completed"
   },
   {
      "PtsID":1,
      "PtsCode":"10014352-1208570.pdf",
      "PtsName":"10014352-1208570.pdf",
      "DOB":null,
      "Gender":null,
      "VisitID":1,
      "VisitType":"Inpatient",
      "VisitDate":"10/01/2022",
      "DischargeDate":"10/01/2022",
      "RepID":1,
      "RepDate":"10/01/2022",
      "RepType":"Unidentified",
      "RepDesc":null,
      "VisitStatus":"Updated",
      "RepStatus":"Completed"
   },
   {
      "PtsID":2,
      "PtsCode":"10099142-1836694.pdf",
      "PtsName":"10099142-1836694.pdf",
      "DOB":null,
      "Gender":null,
      "VisitID":2,
      "VisitType":"Inpatient",
      "VisitDate":"10/01/2022",
      "DischargeDate":"10/01/2022",
      "RepID":2,
      "RepDate":"10/01/2022",
      "RepType":"Unidentified",
      "RepDesc":null,
      "VisitStatus":"Updated",
      "RepStatus":"Completed"
   },
   {
      "PtsID":2,
      "PtsCode":"10099142-1836694.pdf",
      "PtsName":"10099142-1836694.pdf",
      "DOB":null,
      "Gender":null,
      "VisitID":2,
      "VisitType":"Inpatient",
      "VisitDate":"10/01/2022",
      "DischargeDate":"10/01/2022",
      "RepID":2,
      "RepDate":"10/01/2022",
      "RepType":"Unidentified",
      "RepDesc":null,
      "VisitStatus":"Updated",
      "RepStatus":"Completed"
   },
   {
      "PtsID":2,
      "PtsCode":"10099142-1836694.pdf",
      "PtsName":"10099142-1836694.pdf",
      "DOB":null,
      "Gender":null,
      "VisitID":2,
      "VisitType":"Inpatient",
      "VisitDate":"10/01/2022",
      "DischargeDate":"10/01/2022",
      "RepID":2,
      "RepDate":"10/01/2022",
      "RepType":"Unidentified",
      "RepDesc":null,
      "VisitStatus":"Updated",
      "RepStatus":"Completed"
   },
   {
      "PtsID":2,
      "PtsCode":"10099142-1836694.pdf",
      "PtsName":"10099142-1836694.pdf",
      "DOB":null,
      "Gender":null,
      "VisitID":2,
      "VisitType":"Inpatient",
      "VisitDate":"10/01/2022",
      "DischargeDate":"10/01/2022",
      "RepID":2,
      "RepDate":"10/01/2022",
      "RepType":"Unidentified",
      "RepDesc":null,
      "VisitStatus":"Updated",
      "RepStatus":"Completed"
   }
]

</string>

I want the JSON file without the header

I tried with Edge browser there is still a header and also with Postman

Here is my code

namespace CDAPIs.Controllers
{
    public class CallSPController : ApiController
    {

        [Route("api/CallSP")]

    public string Get(string UserID = null, string Tokin = null, string SP = null, string Type = null, string Ps = null, string P0 = null)
    {
        string sDBConn = Functions.GetConn();
        string[] Parms = Ps.Split(',');
        SqlConnection conn = new SqlConnection(sDBConn);
        conn.Open();

        SqlCommand cmd = new SqlCommand(SP, conn);
        cmd.CommandTimeout = 0;
        cmd.CommandType = CommandType.StoredProcedure;

        string P = "";
        cmd.Parameters.Add(new SqlParameter("@P0", P0));
        

        SqlDataReader rdr = cmd.ExecuteReader();
        var dt = new DataTable();
        dt.Load(rdr);
        List<DataRow> result = dt.AsEnumerable().ToList();
        rdr.Close();
        conn.Close();
        conn.Dispose();
        string json = Functions.DataTableToJSON(dt);
        //return Json(result, JsonRequestBehavior.AllowGet);
        return json;
    }

    public static string DataTableToJSON(DataTable dt)
    {
        string JSONString = string.Empty;
        string json = JsonConvert.SerializeObject(dt, Formatting.Indented);

        //JSONString = JSONConvert.SerializeObject(table);
        return json;
    }

Update: This API will be used for Desktop and Web applications.

Could you provide a bit more context on what do you use to receive the Http Requests ? Are you using ASP.Net ? Azure functions ? — Julien, Oct 15 '22 at 21:54
Are you using a Controller ? Have you tried to add a header for Content-Type : "application/json" in your response from your api ? — Julien, Oct 15 '22 at 21:56
@Julien yes I am using Controller, I added the rest of the code — asmgx, Oct 15 '22 at 22:03
Thanks. I believe the issue in this case is that you send back a string. I believe this should be of help : https://stackoverflow.com/a/49073988/5855940 — Julien, Oct 15 '22 at 22:06
Let us [continue this discussion in chat](https://chat.stackoverflow.com/rooms/248836/discussion-between-julien-and-asmgx). — Julien, Oct 15 '22 at 22:07
@asmgx You have to show the code of Functions.DataTableToJSON — Serge, Oct 15 '22 at 22:32

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Oct 15 '22 at 23:05

if you are using mvc5 try to add this lines to WebApiConfig.cs after config.Routes.MapHttpRoute

config.Formatters.Remove(GlobalConfiguration.Configuration.Formatters.XmlFormatter);
config.Formatters.Add(GlobalConfiguration.Configuration.Formatters.JsonFormatter);

How to avoid XML in JSON APIs in C#

1 Answers1