Question

I’m trying to solve the problem of passing a 2-dimensional table into JavaScript AJAX application through SOAP web services. I’m trying to pass data into JavaScript web page through ASP.NET web service declared with following attributes:

[WebServiceBinding(ConformsTo = WsiProfiles.BasicProfile1_1)] [System.Web.Script.Services.ScriptService] 

I need a complex type to be passed into the JavaScript:

[Serializable] public class PayRateSummary {     public string[] EmployeeId;     public Dictionary<string, string> EmployeeName;     public string[] PaycodeId;     public Dictionary<string, Dictionary<string, double?>> EmployeePaycodeRate; }  [WebMethod(EnableSession = true)] public DataElements.PayRateSummary EnumPayRates(Guid companyId) { } 

And web service declared in a pretty standard way:

    <asp:ScriptManager runat='server' ID='ScriptManager1'>         <Services><asp:ServiceReference Path='~/WebService.asmx' /></Services>     </asp:ScriptManager> 

… function RefreshPayRates() { WebService.EnumPayRates(CompanyCurrent, OnPayRatesLoaded, OnFailure); }

For some reason, Dictionary[string,string] is getting passed allright, but not the Dictionary[string,Dictionary[string,string]]:

–> http://vvcap.net/db/8rveoL-FMP6EUikCaqiz.htp

I remember beating my head against the wall in the past to understand, what could be done to pass such objects and never found any solution.

Answer 1

Building on sktrdie‘s answer, You could use ASP.NET AJAX JSON Web Services to pass and return the data as JSON objects. Here are some examples-

• Using ASP.NET AJAX 3.5 JSON Web Services
• Using JSON Syntax with ASP.NET AJAX
• Understanding ASP.NET AJAX Web Service Proxies

There is a lot of good information on JSON in this question – What is JSON and why would I use it?

EDIT –

At the moment, you say that you are using SOAP, which is an XML-based transport protocol. There is a very succinct article here – Extending an existing ASP.NET Web Service to support JSON – that explains how to extend an existing web service,

In addition, if you do not have access to .NET 3.5 JSON serializer/deserializer, have a look at James Newton King’s JSON.NET library.

EDIT 2 –

Looking at your screenshot again and the fact that you have the [ScriptService] attribute, you appear to be returning a JSON string (which I understand is the default). Therefore, I’m thinking is the ASP.NET AJAX JSON serializer failing to serialize the nullable double in this line

public Dictionary<string, Dictionary<string, double?>> EmployeePaycodeRate; 

to the correct JSON data type in each instance? You could see whether this is the case by changing the web service to return a double, and then try it with data that have values.

According to MSDN–

Nullable types are also supported and map to JSON in the same way as non-nullable types.

Nonetheless, I think it’s worth looking at in a similar manner to as I have suggested, as this is where your problem is occurring

Hope this helps

EDIT 3 –

It seems strange why a Dictionary with a Dictionary value would not be possible to represent in a JSON string. Consider that a Dictionary looks like this in JSON

[{'Key':'a1','Value':'a1'}, {'Key':'a2','Value':'a2'}] 

A Dictionary with a Dictionary value would therefore look like so (I believe)

[{'Key':'a1','Value': {'Key':'b1','Value':'b1'} }, {'Key':'a2','Value': {'Key':'b2','Value':'b2'} }] 

which is valid JSON according to JSONLint – the JSON validator.