ASP.Net Webservice Serialization

Question

Hi All,

Could someone here point me in the right direction about how I can override the serialization that occurs when my webservice is called?

Basically the end result I am aiming for is appending a TIMESTAMP to all objects returned from my webservice but only when the JavascriptSerializer is being used in my webservice as opposed to the XML serializer.

So for example below is a method that is contained in my webservice.

<WebMethod()> _
<ScriptMethod(ResponseFormat:=ResponseFormat.Json, UseHttpGet:=True)> _
Public Function GetSettingData(ByVal Username As String, ByVal Password As String) As SettingList

When the webservice is called (As a GET request) at some point the JavascriptSerializer is invoked and my objects parsed and outputted as JSON. I am assuming that somewhere during that invokation I can insert my own version of the JavascriptSerializer and do as required?

Anyone able to guide me here?

(PS: I am well aware that I can return strings from all my webservices and perform the serialization as required in the actual webmethod call but I am looking for a 'better' solution then that (besides that would mean I would need different methods if I wanted to return XML))

Answer 1

You can use Stream or Message classes as return types, then you can implement your custom serialization. See for example http://stackoverflow.com/questions/3118504/how-to-set-json-net-as-the-default-serializer-for-wcf-rest-service/3131413#3131413 as an example.