JSONP with ASP.NET Web API

Question

I am working on creating a new set of services in ASP.MVC MVC 4 using the Web API. So far, it's great. I have created the service and gotten it to work, and now I am trying to consume it using JQuery. I can get back the JSON string using Fiddler, and it seems to be ok, but because the service exists on a separate site, trying to call it with JQuery errors with the "Not Allowed". So, this is clearly a case where I need to use JSONP.

I know that the Web API is new, but I'm hoping someone out there can help me.

How do I make a call to a Web API method using JSONP?

Answer 1

Here's an updated version with several improvements, which works with the RTM version of Web APIs.

• Selects the correct encoding, based on the request's own Accept-Encoding headers. The new StreamWriter() in the previous examples would simply use UTF-8. The call to base.WriteToStreamAsync may use a different encoding, resulting in corrupted output.
• Maps JSONP requests to the application/javascript Content-Type header; the previous example would output JSONP, but with the application/json header. This work is done in the nested Mapping class (cf. Best content type to serve JSONP?)
• Foregoes the construction and flushing overhead of a StreamWriter and directly gets the bytes and writes them to the output stream.
• Instead of waiting on a task, use the Task Parallel Library's ContinueWith mechanism to chain several tasks together.

Code:

public class JsonpMediaTypeFormatter : JsonMediaTypeFormatter
{
  private string _callbackQueryParameter;

  public JsonpMediaTypeFormatter()
  {
    SupportedMediaTypes.Add(DefaultMediaType);
    SupportedMediaTypes.Add(new MediaTypeHeaderValue("application/javascript"));

    // need a lambda here so that it'll always get the 'live' value of CallbackQueryParameter.
    MediaTypeMappings.Add(new Mapping(() => CallbackQueryParameter, "application/javascript"));
  }

  public string CallbackQueryParameter
  {
    get { return _callbackQueryParameter ?? "callback"; }
    set { _callbackQueryParameter = value; }
  }

  public override Task WriteToStreamAsync(Type type, object value, Stream writeStream, HttpContent content,
                                          TransportContext transportContext)
  {
    var callback = GetCallbackName();

    if (!String.IsNullOrEmpty(callback))
    {
      // select the correct encoding to use.
      Encoding encoding = SelectCharacterEncoding(content.Headers);

      // write the callback and opening paren.
      return Task.Factory.StartNew(() =>
        {
          var bytes = encoding.GetBytes(callback + "(");
          writeStream.Write(bytes, 0, bytes.Length);
        })
      // then we do the actual JSON serialization...
      .ContinueWith(t => base.WriteToStreamAsync(type, value, writeStream, content, transportContext))

      // finally, we close the parens.
      .ContinueWith(t =>
        {
          var bytes = encoding.GetBytes(")");
          writeStream.Write(bytes, 0, bytes.Length);
        });
    }
    return base.WriteToStreamAsync(type, value, writeStream, content, transportContext);
  }

  private string GetCallbackName()
  {
    if (HttpContext.Current.Request.HttpMethod != "GET")
      return null;
    return HttpContext.Current.Request.QueryString[CallbackQueryParameter];
  }

  #region Nested type: Mapping

  private class Mapping : MediaTypeMapping
  {
    private readonly Func<string> _param; 

    public Mapping(Func<string> discriminator, string mediaType)
      : base(mediaType)
    {
      _param = discriminator;
    }

    public override double TryMatchMediaType(HttpRequestMessage request)
    {
      if (request.RequestUri.Query.Contains(_param() + "="))
        return 1.0;
      return 0.0;
    }
  }

  #endregion
}

I'm aware of the "hackiness" of the Func<string> parameter in the inner class constructor, but it was the fastest way to get around the problem it solves -- since C# only has static inner classes, it can't see the CallbackQueryParameter property. Passing the Func in binds the property in the lambda, so Mapping will be able to access it later on in TryMatchMediaType. If you have a more elegant way, please comment!

Answer 2

Here is an updated version of the JsonpMediaTypeFormatter for use with WebAPI RC:

public class JsonpMediaTypeFormatter : JsonMediaTypeFormatter
{
    private string callbackQueryParameter;

    public JsonpMediaTypeFormatter()
    {
        SupportedMediaTypes.Add(DefaultMediaType);
        SupportedMediaTypes.Add(new MediaTypeHeaderValue("text/javascript"));

        MediaTypeMappings.Add(new UriPathExtensionMapping("jsonp", DefaultMediaType));
    }

    public string CallbackQueryParameter
    {
        get { return callbackQueryParameter ?? "callback"; }
        set { callbackQueryParameter = value; }
    }

    public override Task WriteToStreamAsync(Type type, object value, Stream stream, HttpContent content, TransportContext transportContext)
    {
        string callback;

        if (IsJsonpRequest(out callback))
        {
            return Task.Factory.StartNew(() =>
            {
                var writer = new StreamWriter(stream);
                writer.Write(callback + "(");
                writer.Flush();

                base.WriteToStreamAsync(type, value, stream, content, transportContext).Wait();

                writer.Write(")");
                writer.Flush();
            });
        }
        else
        {
            return base.WriteToStreamAsync(type, value, stream, content, transportContext);
        }
    }


    private bool IsJsonpRequest(out string callback)
    {
        callback = null;

        if (HttpContext.Current.Request.HttpMethod != "GET")
            return false;

        callback = HttpContext.Current.Request.QueryString[CallbackQueryParameter];

        return !string.IsNullOrEmpty(callback);
    }
}

Answer 3

Certainly Brian's answer is the correct one, however if you already are using the Json.Net formatter, which gives you pretty json dates and faster serialization, then you can't just add a second formatter for jsonp, you have to combine the two. It is a good idea to use it anyway, as Scott Hanselman has said that the release of ASP.NET Web API is going to use the Json.Net serializer by default.

public class JsonNetFormatter : MediaTypeFormatter
    {
        private JsonSerializerSettings _jsonSerializerSettings;
        private string callbackQueryParameter;

        public JsonNetFormatter(JsonSerializerSettings jsonSerializerSettings)
        {
            _jsonSerializerSettings = jsonSerializerSettings ?? new JsonSerializerSettings();

            // Fill out the mediatype and encoding we support
            SupportedMediaTypes.Add(new MediaTypeHeaderValue("application/json"));
            Encoding = new UTF8Encoding(false, true);

            //we also support jsonp.
            SupportedMediaTypes.Add(new MediaTypeHeaderValue("text/javascript"));
            MediaTypeMappings.Add(new UriPathExtensionMapping("jsonp", "application/json"));
        }

        public string CallbackQueryParameter
        {
            get { return callbackQueryParameter ?? "jsoncallback"; }
            set { callbackQueryParameter = value; }
        }

        protected override bool CanReadType(Type type)
        {
            if (type == typeof(IKeyValueModel))
                return false;

            return true;
        }

        protected override bool CanWriteType(Type type)
        {
            return true;
        }

        protected override Task<object> OnReadFromStreamAsync(Type type, Stream stream, HttpContentHeaders contentHeaders,
            FormatterContext formatterContext)
        {
            // Create a serializer
            JsonSerializer serializer = JsonSerializer.Create(_jsonSerializerSettings);

            // Create task reading the content
            return Task.Factory.StartNew(() =>
            {
                using (StreamReader streamReader = new StreamReader(stream, Encoding))
                {
                    using (JsonTextReader jsonTextReader = new JsonTextReader(streamReader))
                    {
                        return serializer.Deserialize(jsonTextReader, type);
                    }
                }
            });
        }

        protected override Task OnWriteToStreamAsync(Type type, object value, Stream stream, HttpContentHeaders contentHeaders,
            FormatterContext formatterContext, TransportContext transportContext)
        {
            string callback;
            var isJsonp = IsJsonpRequest(formatterContext.Response.RequestMessage, out callback);

            // Create a serializer
            JsonSerializer serializer = JsonSerializer.Create(_jsonSerializerSettings);

            // Create task writing the serialized content
            return Task.Factory.StartNew(() =>
            {
                using (JsonTextWriter jsonTextWriter = new JsonTextWriter(new StreamWriter(stream, Encoding)) { CloseOutput = false })
                {
                    if (isJsonp)
                    {
                        jsonTextWriter.WriteRaw(callback + "(");
                        jsonTextWriter.Flush();
                    }

                    serializer.Serialize(jsonTextWriter, value);
                    jsonTextWriter.Flush();

                    if (isJsonp)
                    {
                        jsonTextWriter.WriteRaw(")");
                        jsonTextWriter.Flush();
                    }
                }
            });
        }

        private bool IsJsonpRequest(HttpRequestMessage request, out string callback)
        {
            callback = null;

            if (request.Method != HttpMethod.Get)
                return false;

            var query = HttpUtility.ParseQueryString(request.RequestUri.Query);
            callback = query[CallbackQueryParameter];

            return !string.IsNullOrEmpty(callback);
        }
    }

Answer 4

Rick Strahl's implementation worked best for me with RC.

Answer 5

For those of you who are using the HttpSelfHostServer this section of code will fail on HttpContext.Current, since it doesn't exist on the self host server.

private Tuple<bool, string> IsJsonpRequest()
{
if(HttpContext.Current.Request.HttpMethod != "GET")
 return new Tuple<bool, string>(false, null);
 var callback = HttpContext.Current.Request.QueryString[CallbackQueryParameter];
 return new Tuple<bool, string>(!string.IsNullOrEmpty(callback), callback);
 }

However you can intercept the self host "context" via this override.

public override MediaTypeFormatter GetPerRequestFormatterInstance(Type type, HttpRequestMessage request, MediaTypeHeaderValue mediaType)
        {
            _method = request.Method;
            _callbackMethodName =
                request.GetQueryNameValuePairs()
                       .Where(x => x.Key == CallbackQueryParameter)
                       .Select(x => x.Value)
                       .FirstOrDefault();

            return base.GetPerRequestFormatterInstance(type, request, mediaType);
        }

The request.Method will give you "GET", "POST", etc. and the GetQueryNameValuePairs can retrieve the ?callback parameter. Thus my revised code looks like:

private Tuple<bool, string> IsJsonpRequest()
 {
     if (_method.Method != "GET")
     return new Tuple<bool, string>(false, null);

     return new Tuple<bool, string>(!string.IsNullOrEmpty(_callbackMethodName), _callbackMethodName);
}

Hope this helps some of you. This way you don't necessarily need a HttpContext shim.

C.

Answer 6

johperl, Thomas. The answer given by Peter Moberg above should be correct for the RC version as the JsonMediaTypeFormatter that he inherits from uses the NewtonSoft Json serializer already, and so what he has should work with out any changes.

However, why on earth are people still using out parameters, when you could just do the following

public override Task WriteToStreamAsync(Type type, object value, Stream stream, HttpContentHeaders contentHeaders, TransportContext transportContext)
        {
            var isJsonpRequest = IsJsonpRequest();

            if(isJsonpRequest.Item1)
            {
                return Task.Factory.StartNew(() =>
                {
                    var writer = new StreamWriter(stream);
                    writer.Write(isJsonpRequest.Item2 + "(");
                    writer.Flush();
                    base.WriteToStreamAsync(type, value, stream, contentHeaders, transportContext).Wait();
                    writer.Write(")");
                    writer.Flush();
                });
            }

            return base.WriteToStreamAsync(type, value, stream, contentHeaders, transportContext);
        }

        private Tuple<bool, string> IsJsonpRequest()
        {
            if(HttpContext.Current.Request.HttpMethod != "GET")
                return new Tuple<bool, string>(false, null);

            var callback = HttpContext.Current.Request.QueryString[CallbackQueryParameter];

            return new Tuple<bool, string>(!string.IsNullOrEmpty(callback), callback);
        }