Passing complex JSON string to 1 parameter webmethod in c# - desearialize into object (json.net)?

Question

I have been happy serializing with javascript objects into JSON using

         JSON.stringify

And sending along to my "static" webmethod in c#/asp.net and sure enought it arrives .. I need the correct number of parameters hence if my json object has "startDate","endDate","reserve" then my webmethod needs these as parameters.

"Basically with my order object that i have, i have a number of parameters on this object so i would need to use the same number on the webmethod - this is a bit messy??" - I will explain

I have a rather complex "Order" object in javascript and wish to serialize it using stringify and send it along to my webmethod but i don't want to specify all the parameters is there a way round this?

I was hoping for something like this on my webmethod

           public static bool MakeReservation(object order)

Then in my webmethod i only have 1 parameter BUT i can then desearilize this to a true c# object using JSON.NET. I have tried it like this sending the json across but because there is ONLY 1 parameter on my webmethod its failing.

Basically what i am trying to say if i that i want to continue to use my webmethod but i don't want to have to do specify 15 parameters on the webmethod

I want the JSON - String to arrive into my webmethod and then i can decompose it on the server.

Is this possible?

Here is how i am currently sending my JSON to the server (webmethod) using jquery

    var jsonData = JSONNew.stringify(orderObject);

    $.ajax({
        type: "POST",
        url: "MyService.aspx/DoReservation",
        data: jsonData,
        contentType: "application/json; charset=utf-8",
        dataType: "json",
        success: function(msg) {
            success = true;
        },
        error: function(msg) {
            success = false;
        },
        async: false
    });

Answer 1

If you try to submit an object that looks like this:

JSON.stringify({ endDate: new Date(2009, 10, 10), startDate: new Date() });

it will try and map endDate and startDate to corresponding parameters in your webmethod. Since you only want to accept one single method, I suspect you may get away with it by submitting the following:

JSON.stringify({ order: orderObject });

Which it might reasonably try to assign as a value to the 'order' parameter of your webmethod. Failing that, submitting

JSON.stringify({ order: JSON.stringify(orderObject) });

and then deserializing it using JSON.NET should definitely work, but it's uglier, so try the first example first. That's my best shot.

Answer 2

It's possible. I'm not so good at explaining stuff, I'll just show you my example code:

Javascript:

var Order = function(name, orderid, price) {
this.name = name;
this.orderid = orderid;
this.price = price;}

var pagePath = window.location.pathname;

function setOrder() {
var jsOrder = new Order("Smith", 32, 150);
var jsonText = JSON.stringify({ order: jsOrder });
$.ajax({
    type: "POST",
    url: pagePath + "/SetOrder",
    contentType: "application/json; charset=utf-8",
    data: jsonText,
    dataType: "json",
    success: function(response) {
        alert("wohoo");
    },
    error: function(msg) { alert(msg); }
});
}

C# Code behind

public class Order
{
 public string name { get; set; }
 public int orderid { get; set; }
 public int price { get; set; }
}

[WebMethod]
public static void SetOrder(object order)
{
    Order ord = GetOrder(order);
    Console.WriteLine(ord.name +","+ord.price+","+ord.orderid);        
}
public static Order GetOrder(object order)
{
    Order ord = new Order();
    Dictionary<string,object> tmp = (Dictionary<string,object>) order;
    object name = null;
    object price = null;
    object orderid = null;
    tmp.TryGetValue("name", out name);
    tmp.TryGetValue("price", out price);
    tmp.TryGetValue("orderid", out orderid);
    ord.name = name.ToString();
    ord.price = (int)price;
    ord.orderid = (int) orderid;
    return ord;
}

My code isn't that beautiful but I hope you get the meaning of it.

Answer 3

I recently went through this very issue with a complexe JSON object I wanted to deserilize in my controller. The only difference is I was using the .toJSON plugin on the client instead of .stringify.

The easy answer:

public static bool MakeReservation(string orderJSON)
{
    var serializer = new JavaScriptSerializer();
    var order = serializer.Deserialize<Order>(orderJSON);
}

Now, as a longer term solution we created a custom ActionFilterAttribute to handle these cases. It detects the JSON parameters and handles deserilizing the object and mapping to the action. You may want to look into doing the same.