Minimize response/request packets

Question

Hi,

I want to shrink the data that is sent back and forth via AJAX, so that it sends/receives less data.

I will de/compress server-side (C#) and client-side (Javascript), before/after every response/request.

What would be the simplest way to do this?

All communications is done via JSON strings (both request and response).

Answer 1

I would not advise you to have too many data sent via JSON, but if it's really necessary, I'd suggest you GZIP your data.

There's a nice article about it here: http://www.west-wind.com/Weblog/posts/10564.aspx

With data GZIPED, you can save up to 90%

Answer 2

The simplest way to do this is turn http compression on on your server and let IIS and the browser figure it out.

Answer 3

The simplest thing here would be to simply enable http compression of your existing JSON.

You could possibly get more aggressive with it though - for example, I haven't played with it but a few weeks ago somebody mentioned a javascript protocol buffers implementation. Have your server return some raw bytes (or maybe base-64 or hex) and you could see some significant savings. It would involve changing your code quite a bit, though.

Caveat: although I'm pretty familiar with protobufs generally, I have not used that javascript implementation. YMMV.

Answer 4

1

You can set "Content-encoding" to "gzip" in server side to encode the HTTP flux:

Response.AppendHeader("Content-encoding", "gzip");

2

You can manually Zip your JSON in client and server side :

For client side you can use a library like : http://jszip.stuartk.co.uk/

For server size you can use .Net framework to compress / decompress