JSON returned from the Web API is not in proper format

Question

I am trying to return a JSON for the Web API I am building. The API returns the JSON with \ slashes that makes difficult for my other application to consume this API.

 "   {\"@odata.context\":\"https://science.com/odata/$metadata#EMPLOYEE\",\"value\":[{\"Id\":5000004,\"Name\":\"Account\"}]}"

But I am expecting a response like

{
"@odata.context": "https://science.com/odata/$metadata#EMPLOYEE",
"value": [
    {
        "Id": 5000004,
        "Name": "Account"
    }]}

Below is the code for my Web API

public async Task<string> GetEmployee(string instance)
{
    .....
    EmployeeDTO.RootObject returnObj = new EmployeeDTO.RootObject();
    var responsedata = "";
    try
    {
        using (var client_Core = new HttpClient())
        {
            ....
            string core_URL = BaseURL_Core+URL_instance;
            var response = client_Core.GetAsync(core_URL).Result;

            responsedata = await response.Content.ReadAsStringAsync();
        }
    }
    catch (Exception ex)
    {
        throw ex;
    }
    return responsedata;
}

I have also added the Content type in the WebAPIConfig file like below

var appXmlType = config.Formatters.XmlFormatter.SupportedMediaTypes.FirstOrDefault(t => t.MediaType == "application/xml");

config.Formatters.XmlFormatter.SupportedMediaTypes.Remove(appXmlType);

But I am still getting the JSON with the slashes

I think you're confusing what debug output is showing you for the actual contents of the string. Where are you seeing the string with all the \s? — phuzi
– phuzi, Commented Aug 20, 2018 at 20:03

Win · Accepted Answer · 2018-08-20 20:06:38Z

responsedata = await response.Content.ReadAsStringAsync();

Above code returns string and you return the same response back. As the result, it is not well-formed JSON you expected.

If you want to return proper JSON, you'll need to convert string to JSON before returning it.

public async Task<Data> GetEmployee(string instance)
{
    string responsedata = "   {\"@odata.context\":\"https://science.com/odata/$metadata#EMPLOYEE\",\"value\":[{\"Id\":5000004,\"Name\":\"Account\"}]}";

    return JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<Data>(responsedata);
}

public class Data
{
    [JsonProperty("@odata.context")]
    public string ODataContext { get; set; }

    public Value[] Value { get; set; }
}

public class Value
{
    public int Id { get; set; }
    public string Name { get; set; }
}

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