Question

I need to pass a simple Javascript array to my wcf ajax webservice:

var array = new Array();
array["ParamA"] = "xyz";
array["12344"] = "9";
myNamespace.DoSomething(array);

This this my WCF method:

[OperationContract]
[WebInvoke(RequestFormat = WebMessageFormat.Json, ResponseFormat = WebMessageFormat.Json)]
public void DoSomething(object values)

“values” is an empty array when it is called from javascript with my values.
What is the best approach to pass a simple list of KeyValuePairs to my webservice?

Answer 1

I was able to find the solution myself:

[OperationContract]
[WebInvoke(RequestFormat = WebMessageFormat.Json, ResponseFormat = WebMessageFormat.Json)]
public void DoSomething(Dictionary<string, object> values)

must be called in javascript like this:

var params = [{ “Key”: “A”, “Value”: 5}, { “Key”: “B”, “Value”: “Test}]

$.ajax({
    type: "POST",
    contentType: "application/json",
    dataType: "json",
    data: '{"values":' + JSON.stringify(params) + '}',
    ...

This can of course be simplified:

var parameters = [{ "A": 5}, { "B": "Test"}];

var dictionary = new Array();
for (var i in parameters) {
   var key = Object.keys(args[i])[0];
   var value = args[i][key];
   dictionary.push({ "Key": key, "Value": value });
} 

$.ajax({
    type: "POST",
    contentType: "application/json",
    dataType: "json",
    data: '{"values":' + JSON.stringify(dictionary) + '}',
    ...