"return Json(jsonData)" vs "return content (jsonData, "application/json")"

Question

I have this code inside an ASP.NET MVC-5 action method, which serialize an object as JSON using Newtonsoft package:-

string jsonData = JsonConvert.SerializeObject(result);  

and i can return the above JSON using this return statement:-

return Json(output,JsonRequestBehavior.AllowGet);  

Or using this return statement:-

return Content(output,"application/json");  

so are there really any differences between the two methods return Json(jsonData) vs return content (jsonData, "application/json") ? and which one we should use to return the already serialized json object ?

Thanks

Now when i call the action method from firefox, i will get this json in case i use return Json(output,JsonRequestBehavior.AllowGet):-

while i will get this json (which seems to be the accurate one) when using return Content(output,"application/json"):-

so seems the json i will get when using return Content(output,"application/json"); is the accurate one? while using return json(output,JsonRequestBehavior.AllowGet); will return string that can not be understandable by firefox?

Thanks

Answer 1

Your design serializes twice. First, an object is converted to JSON. Next, the JSON is converted to a string.

The standard pattern in MVC 5 (.NET Framework) is defining a ActionResult return type and simply returning a type and letting the framework serialize the type. I believe MVC 5 uses Newtonsoft by default.

namespace MvcDemo.Controllers  
{  
    public class ViewModel  
    {  
        public string Message { get; set; }  
    }  
  
    public class HomeController : Controller  
    {  
        [HttpGet]  
        public ActionResult Index()  
        {  
            ViewModel model = new ViewModel() { Message = "Hello world" };  
            return Json(model, JsonRequestBehavior.AllowGet);  
        }  
    }  
}  

I recommend Web API rather than MVC for returning JSON.