Why I get error when I try to parse JSON in the JavaScript

Question

I pass JSON to the razor view page with help of ViewBag.

Here is the code in the action function:

 public ActionResult GmailOAuthCallback(string code)
 {
 object contacts = GmailServiceWorkflow.GetContacts(code);
 string json = new JavaScriptSerializer().Serialize(contacts);
 ViewBag.name = json;
 return View("SomeWindow");
 }

At the razor view page I want to parse JSON to the object.

Here is the code in view razor page:

function myFunction() {
 var arrObject = JSON.parse("@ViewBag.name");
 alert(arrObject[0].firstName);
 } 

But I get this error:

SyntaxError: JSON.parse: expected property name or '}' at line 1 column 3 of the JSON data

Any idea why I get this error and how to fix it?

• vrijdenker: THe error states that the JSON-data is invalid. Your code has nothing to do with that.

Answer 1

Rather than using JavaScriptSerializer, you ca acheive this by passing the collection to the view

public ActionResult GmailOAuthCallback(string code)
{
 object contacts = GmailServiceWorkflow.GetContacts(code); 
 ViewBag.name = contacts ;
 return View("SomeWindow");
}

then in the script

function myFunction() {
 var arrObject = JSON.parse('@Html.Raw(Json.Encode(ViewBag.name))');
 alert(arrObject[0].firstName);
} 

• Michael: Stephen thanks for the answer but I get red line(error) under Json.
• user3559349: What does the error indicate? You may be missing <add namespace="System.Web.Helpers" /> from your web.config file
• Tieson T.: @Michael That just means you need to include the relevant namespace, System.Web.Helpers, and either add a using statement and/or add the System.Web.Helpers to the web.config (as Stephen notes).
• Michael: Yes,I know I already have @using System.Web.Helpers ,but steal I get the error
• user3559349: Strange, works for me. The script is not in a external file is it?