ASMX Returning a pure string

Question

I have an ASP.NET web service (.asmx). My service is defined like the following:

[System.Web.Services.WebService(Namespace = "http://tempuri.org/")]
[System.Web.Services.WebServiceBinding(ConformsTo = System.Web.Services.WsiProfiles.BasicProfile1_1)]
public class MyService : System.Web.Services.WebService
{
  [System.Web.Services.WebMethod]
  public string GetResult()
  {
    string result = "";

    int day = System.DateTime.UtcNow.Day;
    if ((day % 1) == 1)
      result = "odd";
    else
      result = "even";
    return result;
  }
}

Currently, if I call this service method, I get the following result:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<string xmlns="http://tempuri.org/">even</string>

My issue is, I need to return just the string part. I do NOT want to return the wrapping XML. How do I do this with an .asmx?

Thanks!

score 4 · Accepted Answer · answered Jan 02 '11 at 21:10

4

Does it need to be an .asmx web service for this? I mean, by excluding the SOAP envelope you're essentially saying "this is not a SOAP web service" as it is, so why not take it a step further and make it a regular .aspx page instead of an .asmx web service.

As a page, what you're trying to do would be trivial. Remove all mark-up from the page, use Response.Headers to edit the response headers accordingly, Response.Write() to output your raw text, and Response.End() to close the response.

answered Jan 02 '11 at 21:10

David

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Genius. That's what I was looking for. – user208662 Jan 02 '11 at 21:43
@user208662: I now find myself wondering if the same thing can be achieved in an `.asmx` web method. Part of me doubts it, but part of me doesn't. Next time I find myself in front of my development environment I'm going to have to test it out and see what I can come up with. – David Jan 02 '11 at 21:45
1

@user: You should make an ASHX handler, not an ASPX page. You don't need the overhead of ASPX. – SLaks Jan 04 '11 at 00:14

score 2 · Answer 2 · answered Jan 02 '11 at 20:32

2

Use json

add the required attribute to your web service and your web method and you get what you want.

Web Service Attribute:[ScriptService]

Web Method Attribute:[ScriptMethod(ResponseFormat = ResponseFormat.Json)]

Read a sample Here

answered Jan 02 '11 at 20:32

Jahan Zinedine

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Unfortunately, that approach doesn't work :(. I still get the response in XML. Seems odd. I would expect it to be wrapped in Json. Other ideas? – user208662 Jan 02 '11 at 20:57
Why? see the result of running example, http://www.williamsportwebdeveloper.com/BookQuery.html – Jahan Zinedine Jan 02 '11 at 21:12
1

Dave Ward has a great post about this: http://encosia.com/2010/03/03/asmx-and-json-common-mistakes-and-misconceptions/ – chprpipr Jan 02 '11 at 23:37

score -1 · Answer 3 · answered Jan 02 '11 at 20:34

-1

Why do you want to get rid of the XML part? The code which is generated by the proxy needs a common format so it can understand and read the data that is being returned. Stripping the XML essentially makes your return data unreadable by the client proxy.

answered Jan 02 '11 at 20:34

Matthew Abbott

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XML is unwanted if the client wants only JSON. – Karlth Apr 28 '20 at 13:50

ASMX Returning a pure string

3 Answers3