MVC: How to Return a String as JSON

Question

In an effort to make a progress reporting process a little more reliable and decouple it from the request/response, I am performing the processing in a Windows Service and p

Answer 1

You just need to return standard ContentResult and set ContentType to "application/json". You can create custom ActionResult for it:

public class JsonStringResult : ContentResult
{
    public JsonStringResult(string json)
    {
        Content = json;
        ContentType = "application/json";
    }
}

And then return it's instance:

[HttpPost]
public JsonResult UpdateBatchSearchMembers()
{
    string returntext;
    if (!System.IO.File.Exists(path))
        returntext = Properties.Settings.Default.EmptyBatchSearchUpdate;
    else
        returntext = Properties.Settings.Default.ResponsePath;

    return new JsonStringResult(returntext);
}