ASP.NET MVC 2.0 JsonRequestBehavior Global Setting

Question

ASP.NET MVC 2.0 will now, by default, throw an exception when an action attempts to return JSON in response to a GET request. I know this can be overridden on a method by method basis by using JsonRequestBehavior.AllowGet, but is it possible to set on a controller or higher basis (possibly the web.config)?

Update: Per Levi's comment, this is what I ended up using-

protected override JsonResult Json(object data, string contentType, System.Text.Encoding contentEncoding)
{
    return Json(data, contentType, JsonRequestBehavior.AllowGet);
}

Answer 1

This, like other MVC-specific settings, is not settable via Web.config. But you have two options:

1. Override the Controller.Json(object, string, Encoding) overload to call Json(object, string, Encoding, JsonRequestBehavior), passing JsonRequestBehavior.AllowGet as the last argument. If you want this to apply to all controllers, then do this inside an abstract base controller class, then have all your controllers subclass that abstract class.

2. Make an extension method MyJson(this Controller, ...) which creates a JsonResult and sets the appropriate properties, then call it from your controller via this.MyJson(...).

Answer 2

There's another option. Use Action Filters.

Create a new ActionFilterAttribute, apply it to your controller or a specific action (depending on your needs). This should suffice:

public class JsonRequestBehaviorAttribute : ActionFilterAttribute
{
    private JsonRequestBehavior Behavior { get; set; }

    public JsonRequestBehaviorAttribute()
    {
        Behavior = JsonRequestBehavior.AllowGet;
    }

    public override void OnResultExecuting(ResultExecutingContext filterContext)
    {
        var result = filterContext.Result as JsonResult;

        if (result != null)
        {
            result.JsonRequestBehavior = Behavior;
        }
    }
}

Then apply it like this:

[JsonRequestBehavior]
public class Upload2Controller : Controller

Answer 3

MVC 2 block Json for GET requests for security reasons. If you want to override that behavior, check out the overload for Json that accepts a JsonRequestBehavior parameter.

public ActionResult Index()

{

   return Json(data, JsonRequestBehavior.AllowGet)

}

Answer 4

I also got this error when I first use MVC 2.0 using my old code in MVC 1.0. I use fiddler to identify the cause of the error. See the steps on how to troubleshoot it using Fidder -

http://www.rodcerrada.com/post/2011/07/11/jQuery-getJSON()-does-not-tirgger-the-callback-in-ASPNET-MVC-2.aspx

Answer 5

Is this is the security issue MVC2 was trying to address? http://haacked.com/archive/2009/06/25/json-hijacking.aspx

If so, it seems like the vulnerability is only an issue if you are trying to do a json call to an outside website. If your MVC2 app is only making json calls to your own website (to fill jqgrids for example), shouldn't you be able to safely override the Json call in your base controller to always allow get?

Answer 6

Just change JSON code from :

$.getJson("methodname/" + ID, null, function (data, textStatus)

to:

$.post("methodname/" + ID, null, function (data, textStatus)