ASP.NET MVC - Pass Json String to View using ViewData

Question

I'm trying to pass Json to my View using ViewData

Controller

ViewData("JsonRegionList") = Json(RegionService.GetActiveRegions())

view

        $("input#UserRegion").autocomplete({
                source:"<%: ViewData("JsonRegionList").ToString %>",
                minLength: 3,

but the problem I'm running into is the output source looks like

        $("input#UserRegion").autocomplete({
                source:"System.Web.Mvc.JsonResult",
                minLength: 3,

which is obviously not right. Am I missing something basic?

Jon Galloway · Accepted Answer · 2010-07-26 04:57:58Z

19

The Json() controller method returns a JsonResult, which isn't the same as a JSON string. The JsonResult holds data, but the data is actually written directly to the response when the View Engine calls JsonResult.ExecuteResult(). That's all probably more information than you want there - the point is that calling Json() in a controller won't give you a string of JSON.

If you just want to turn your data into a JSON string, you can use the JavaScriptSerializer, which is what the Json() method uses internally:

JavaScriptSerializer serializer = new JavaScriptSerializer();
ViewData["JsonRegionList"] = serializer.Serialize(jsonRegionList);

answered Jul 26, 2010 at 4:57

Jon Galloway

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3 Comments

Chase Florell Over a year ago

JavaScriptSerializer is not Defined. Do I need to reference another assembly?

Chase Florell Over a year ago

looks as though I had to add the System.Web.Extensions assembly to my project... testing now.

JustinStolle Over a year ago

The namespace should be System.Web.Script.Serialization and you would serialize your RegionService.GetActiveRegions()

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