WebMethod returning JSON but the response obj in my $.ajax() callback is only a string

Question

Here is my home-made Serializing class:

public class JsonBuilder
{
    private StringBuilder json;

    public JsonBuilder()
    {
        json = new StringB         


        

Answer 1

You shouldn't manually serialize the return value; ASP.NET will do it for you. Try something like this:

[WebMethod]
public static Person GetPersonInfo(string pFirstName, string pLastName)
{
  // Assuming you have a server-side Person class.
  Person p = new Person();

  p.FirstName = "Pseudo" + pFirstName;
  p.LastName = "Tally-" + pLastName;
  p.Address = "5035 Macleay Rd SE";
  p.City = "Salem";
  p.State = "Oregon";
  p.ZipCode = "97317";

  // ASP.NET will automatically JSON serialize this, if you call it with
  //  the correct client-side form (which you appear to be doing).
  return p;
}

If you need to return something more dynamic, like your example seems to be doing, you can use an anonymous type:

[WebMethod]
public static object GetPersonInfo(string pFirstName, string pLastName)
{
  // ASP.NET will automatically JSON serialize this as well.
  return new {
    FirstName = "Pseudo" + pFirstName,
    LastName = "Tally-" + pLastName,
    Address = "5035 Macleay Rd SE",
    City = "Salem",
    State = "Oregon",
    ZipCode = "97317"
  }
}