Returning a JSON object from a PageMethod with custom formating

Question

Is it possible to format how an object is returned as JSON from a PageMethod? ie. removing the first "d" element from the data, without writing the JSON from scratch.

From { "d": { "name": "bob", "email": "[email protected]" } }

To { "name": "bob", email: "[email protected]" }

Answer 1

A simple example would be:

public class User {
    public string name;
}    

[WebMethod]
public static User getUser() {

    User u = new User();
    u.name = "Bob";

    return u;

}

returns { "d": { "name": "Bob" } }

Answer 2

No. Microsoft's JSON serializer adds the d for some reason on the server side, and the client-side AJAX code that deserializes the JSON string expects it to be there.

Answer 3

My particular scenario involves ExtJS forms which load configuration data via a .NET handler. The JSON received by these forms needs to be a specific format. At the moment I'm building the response manually and it would be better to use the built-in JSON serializers of .NET.

Answer 4

The extra "d" parameter is added by the .NET framework as an added security measure against XSS attacks [source]. It's included when the "Content-Type" of the request specifies "application/json".

I think you can get the framework to exclude it (ie don't wrap the result in the "d") if you simply specifying the "Content-Type" of the request as something other than "application/json". Try removing that header from the request (if you can) and seeing what .NET returns.