MaxJsonLength exception in ASP.NET MVC during JavaScriptSerializer
Asked Answered
I

15

142

In one of my controller actions I am returning a very large JsonResult to fill a grid.

I am getting the following InvalidOperationException exception:

Error during serialization or deserialization using the JSON JavaScriptSerializer. The length of the string exceeds the value set on the maxJsonLength property.

Setting the maxJsonLength property in the web.config to a higher value unfortunately does not show any effect.

<system.web.extensions>
  <scripting>
    <webServices>
      <jsonSerialization maxJsonLength="2147483644"/>
    </webServices>
  </scripting>
</system.web.extensions>

I don't want to pass it back as a string as mentioned in this SO answer.

In my research I came across this blog post where writing an own ActionResult (e.g. LargeJsonResult : JsonResult) is recommended to bypass this behaviour.

Is this then the only solution?
Is this a bug in ASP.NET MVC?
Am I missing something?

Any help would be most appreciated.

Ipoh answered 17/4, 2011 at 9:56 Comment(3)
Your solutions works on MVC 3.Paraguay
@Matteo Are you sure? This is an old question and I can't remember but apparently I tagged it as MVC3. Unfortunately I can't see the version/date when it got fixed/closed: aspnet.codeplex.com/workitem/3436Ipoh
Sure, I'm working with MVC 3 and it works. And fortunately, because in MVC 3 you don't have the "MaxJsonLength" properties cited in the accepted answer.Paraguay
C
275

It appears this has been fixed in MVC4.

You can do this, which worked well for me:

public ActionResult SomeControllerAction()
{
  var jsonResult = Json(veryLargeCollection, JsonRequestBehavior.AllowGet);
  jsonResult.MaxJsonLength = int.MaxValue;
  return jsonResult;
}
Cali answered 19/12, 2012 at 20:57 Comment(5)
I am setting a json string into a ViewBag.MyJsonString property but getting same error in my view at runtime on following javascript line: var myJsonObj = @Html.Raw(Json.Encode(ViewBag.MyJsonString));Cleistogamy
Hey @orionedvards ,@GG, @ MartinBuberl I am facing the same maxJson issue but when posting data to the controller , How can I handle this , I spent so much time searching about this .Any help would be grateful.Waterloo
In my case didnt work because i had to set MaxJsonLength before json serialize the collection.Deaminate
In my case works fine, I had to implement it because of "IMAGES" in datatable to present for the final user. Without it, just crash without any understandable message.Ticktock
Worked for me. Settings in the config not helped. MVC 5.Forwarder
M
35

You could also use ContentResult as suggested here instead of subclassing JsonResult.

var serializer = new JavaScriptSerializer { MaxJsonLength = Int32.MaxValue, RecursionLimit = 100 };

return new ContentResult()
{
    Content = serializer.Serialize(data),
    ContentType = "application/json",
};
Maier answered 29/3, 2012 at 18:47 Comment(1)
in my case, working on a throwaway app, this solution worked best for me. saved implementing jsonresult. thanks!Porky
C
27

Unfortunately the web.config setting is ignored by the default JsonResult implementation. So I guess you will need to implement a custom json result to overcome this issue.

Curt answered 17/4, 2011 at 13:56 Comment(1)
The link seems no longer working. The SO answer to control the MaxJsonLength: https://mcmap.net/q/161429/-web-config-jsonserialization-maxjsonlength-ignored may be helpful.Placer
S
23

No need for a custom class. This is all that is needed:

return new JsonResult { Data = Result, MaxJsonLength = Int32.MaxValue };

where Result is that data you wish to serialize.

Somatist answered 8/4, 2013 at 1:57 Comment(2)
Error 137 'System.Web.Mvc.JsonResult' does not contain a definition for 'MaxJsonLength'Dove
This worked for me, however still needed to add : JsonRequestBehavior = JsonRequestBehavior.AllowGetForeknow
I
9

I'm surprised no one has suggested using a result filter. This is the cleanest way to globally hook into the action/result pipeline:

public class JsonResultFilter : IResultFilter
{
    public int? MaxJsonLength { get; set; }

    public int? RecursionLimit { get; set; }

    public void OnResultExecuting(ResultExecutingContext filterContext)
    {
        if (filterContext.Result is JsonResult jsonResult)
        {
            // override properties only if they're not set
            jsonResult.MaxJsonLength = jsonResult.MaxJsonLength ?? MaxJsonLength;
            jsonResult.RecursionLimit = jsonResult.RecursionLimit ?? RecursionLimit;
        }
    }

    public void OnResultExecuted(ResultExecutedContext filterContext)
    {
    }
}

Then, register an instance of that class using GlobalFilters.Filters:

GlobalFilters.Filters.Add(new JsonResultFilter { MaxJsonLength = int.MaxValue });
Interview answered 7/2, 2020 at 22:3 Comment(1)
In my case the error happens on decoding json request not generating result!Augustine
D
8

Alternative ASP.NET MVC 5 Fix:

In my case the error was occurring during the request. Best approach in my scenario is modifying the actual JsonValueProviderFactory which applies the fix to the global project and can be done by editing the global.cs file as such.

JsonValueProviderConfig.Config(ValueProviderFactories.Factories);

add a web.config entry:

<add key="aspnet:MaxJsonLength" value="20971520" />

and then create the two following classes

public class JsonValueProviderConfig
{
    public static void Config(ValueProviderFactoryCollection factories)
    {
        var jsonProviderFactory = factories.OfType<JsonValueProviderFactory>().Single();
        factories.Remove(jsonProviderFactory);
        factories.Add(new CustomJsonValueProviderFactory());
    }
}

This is basically an exact copy of the default implementation found in System.Web.Mvc but with the addition of a configurable web.config appsetting value aspnet:MaxJsonLength.

public class CustomJsonValueProviderFactory : ValueProviderFactory
{

    /// <summary>Returns a JSON value-provider object for the specified controller context.</summary>
    /// <returns>A JSON value-provider object for the specified controller context.</returns>
    /// <param name="controllerContext">The controller context.</param>
    public override IValueProvider GetValueProvider(ControllerContext controllerContext)
    {
        if (controllerContext == null)
            throw new ArgumentNullException("controllerContext");

        object deserializedObject = CustomJsonValueProviderFactory.GetDeserializedObject(controllerContext);
        if (deserializedObject == null)
            return null;

        Dictionary<string, object> strs = new Dictionary<string, object>(StringComparer.OrdinalIgnoreCase);
        CustomJsonValueProviderFactory.AddToBackingStore(new CustomJsonValueProviderFactory.EntryLimitedDictionary(strs), string.Empty, deserializedObject);

        return new DictionaryValueProvider<object>(strs, CultureInfo.CurrentCulture);
    }

    private static object GetDeserializedObject(ControllerContext controllerContext)
    {
        if (!controllerContext.HttpContext.Request.ContentType.StartsWith("application/json", StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase))
            return null;

        string fullStreamString = (new StreamReader(controllerContext.HttpContext.Request.InputStream)).ReadToEnd();
        if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(fullStreamString))
            return null;

        var serializer = new JavaScriptSerializer()
        {
            MaxJsonLength = CustomJsonValueProviderFactory.GetMaxJsonLength()
        };
        return serializer.DeserializeObject(fullStreamString);
    }

    private static void AddToBackingStore(EntryLimitedDictionary backingStore, string prefix, object value)
    {
        IDictionary<string, object> strs = value as IDictionary<string, object>;
        if (strs != null)
        {
            foreach (KeyValuePair<string, object> keyValuePair in strs)
                CustomJsonValueProviderFactory.AddToBackingStore(backingStore, CustomJsonValueProviderFactory.MakePropertyKey(prefix, keyValuePair.Key), keyValuePair.Value);

            return;
        }

        IList lists = value as IList;
        if (lists == null)
        {
            backingStore.Add(prefix, value);
            return;
        }

        for (int i = 0; i < lists.Count; i++)
        {
            CustomJsonValueProviderFactory.AddToBackingStore(backingStore, CustomJsonValueProviderFactory.MakeArrayKey(prefix, i), lists[i]);
        }
    }

    private class EntryLimitedDictionary
    {
        private static int _maximumDepth;

        private readonly IDictionary<string, object> _innerDictionary;

        private int _itemCount;

        static EntryLimitedDictionary()
        {
            _maximumDepth = CustomJsonValueProviderFactory.GetMaximumDepth();
        }

        public EntryLimitedDictionary(IDictionary<string, object> innerDictionary)
        {
            this._innerDictionary = innerDictionary;
        }

        public void Add(string key, object value)
        {
            int num = this._itemCount + 1;
            this._itemCount = num;
            if (num > _maximumDepth)
            {
                throw new InvalidOperationException("The length of the string exceeds the value set on the maxJsonLength property.");
            }
            this._innerDictionary.Add(key, value);
        }
    }

    private static string MakeArrayKey(string prefix, int index)
    {
        return string.Concat(prefix, "[", index.ToString(CultureInfo.InvariantCulture), "]");
    }

    private static string MakePropertyKey(string prefix, string propertyName)
    {
        if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(prefix))
        {
            return propertyName;
        }
        return string.Concat(prefix, ".", propertyName);
    }

    private static int GetMaximumDepth()
    {
        int num;
        NameValueCollection appSettings = ConfigurationManager.AppSettings;
        if (appSettings != null)
        {
            string[] values = appSettings.GetValues("aspnet:MaxJsonDeserializerMembers");
            if (values != null && values.Length != 0 && int.TryParse(values[0], out num))
            {
                return num;
            }
        }
        return 1000;
    }

    private static int GetMaxJsonLength()
    {
        int num;
        NameValueCollection appSettings = ConfigurationManager.AppSettings;
        if (appSettings != null)
        {
            string[] values = appSettings.GetValues("aspnet:MaxJsonLength");
            if (values != null && values.Length != 0 && int.TryParse(values[0], out num))
            {
                return num;
            }
        }
        return 1000;
    }
}
Deferred answered 3/6, 2018 at 11:3 Comment(2)
Thank you so much !Whomsoever
This resolved my problem as I was facing the issue while binding huge data to model during the request.Tarsus
F
6

If use Json.NET to generate the json string, it doesn't need to set MaxJsonLength value.

return new ContentResult()
{
    Content = Newtonsoft.Json.JsonConvert.SerializeObject(data),
    ContentType = "application/json",
};
Fp answered 6/2, 2015 at 6:29 Comment(0)
G
5

there is a bit other case - data is sent from client to server. when you are using controller method and model is huge :

    [HttpPost]
    public ActionResult AddOrUpdateConsumerFile(FileMetaDataModelView inputModel)
    {
        if (inputModel == null) return null;
     ....
    }

system throws exception like this "Error during serialization or deserialization using the JSON JavaScriptSerializer. The length of the string exceeds the value set on the maxJsonLength property. Parameter name: input"

Only changing Web.config settings is not enough to help in this case. You could additionally override mvc json serializer for supporting huge data model sizes or manually deserialize model from Request. Your controller method becomes:

   [HttpPost]
    public ActionResult AddOrUpdateConsumerFile()
    {
        FileMetaDataModelView inputModel = RequestManager.GetModelFromJsonRequest<FileMetaDataModelView>(HttpContext.Request);
        if (inputModel == null) return null;
        ......
    }

   public static T GetModelFromJsonRequest<T>(HttpRequestBase request)
    {
        string result = "";
        using (Stream req = request.InputStream)
        {
            req.Seek(0, System.IO.SeekOrigin.Begin);
            result = new StreamReader(req).ReadToEnd();
        }
        return JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<T>(result);
    }
Gelderland answered 27/3, 2019 at 15:6 Comment(0)
V
4

I solved the issue by following this link

namespace System.Web.Mvc
{
public sealed class JsonDotNetValueProviderFactory : ValueProviderFactory
{
    public override IValueProvider GetValueProvider(ControllerContext controllerContext)
    {
        if (controllerContext == null)
            throw new ArgumentNullException("controllerContext");

        if (!controllerContext.HttpContext.Request.ContentType.StartsWith("application/json", StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase))
            return null;

        var reader = new StreamReader(controllerContext.HttpContext.Request.InputStream);
        var bodyText = reader.ReadToEnd();

        return String.IsNullOrEmpty(bodyText) ? null : new DictionaryValueProvider<object>(JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<ExpandoObject>(bodyText, new ExpandoObjectConverter()), CultureInfo.CurrentCulture);
    }
}

}

protected void Application_Start()
    {
        AreaRegistration.RegisterAllAreas();

        RegisterGlobalFilters(GlobalFilters.Filters);
        RegisterRoutes(RouteTable.Routes);

        //Remove and JsonValueProviderFactory and add JsonDotNetValueProviderFactory
        ValueProviderFactories.Factories.Remove(ValueProviderFactories.Factories.OfType<JsonValueProviderFactory>().FirstOrDefault());
        ValueProviderFactories.Factories.Add(new JsonDotNetValueProviderFactory());
    }
Valdis answered 15/6, 2016 at 23:31 Comment(0)
L
2

You can try define in your LINQ expression only the field's that you will need.

Example. Imagine that you have an Model with Id, Name, Phone and Picture (byte array) and need to load from json into an select list.

LINQ Query:

var listItems = (from u in Users where u.name.Contains(term) select u).ToList();

The problem here is "select u" that get all fields. So, if you have big pictures, booomm.

How to solve? very, very simple.

var listItems = (from u in Users where u.name.Contains(term) select new {u.Id, u.Name}).ToList();

The best practices is select only the field that you will use.

Remember. This is a simple tip, but can help many ASP.NET MVC developpers.

Lianaliane answered 24/9, 2014 at 1:18 Comment(1)
I wouldn't assume that the user in this case wants to filter their data. Some people have requirements to bring back a large amount of rows from the database...Pepsinogen
A
2
    protected override JsonResult Json(object data, string contentType, System.Text.Encoding contentEncoding, JsonRequestBehavior behavior)
    {
        return new JsonResult()
        {
            Data = data,
            ContentType = contentType,
            ContentEncoding = contentEncoding,
            JsonRequestBehavior = behavior,
            MaxJsonLength = Int32.MaxValue
        };
    }

Was the fix for me in MVC 4.

Algie answered 16/10, 2018 at 22:58 Comment(0)
P
1

None of the above worked out for me until I changed the Action as [HttpPost]. and made the ajax type as POST.

    [HttpPost]
    public JsonResult GetSelectedSignalData(string signal1,...)
    {
         JsonResult result = new JsonResult();
         var signalData = GetTheData();
         try
         {
              var serializer = new System.Web.Script.Serialization.JavaScriptSerializer { MaxJsonLength = Int32.MaxValue, RecursionLimit = 100 };

            result.Data = serializer.Serialize(signalData);
            return Json(result, JsonRequestBehavior.AllowGet);
            ..
            ..
            ...

    }

And the ajax call as

$.ajax({
    type: "POST",
    url: some_url,
    data: JSON.stringify({  signal1: signal1,.. }),
    contentType: "application/json; charset=utf-8",
    success: function (data) {
        if (data !== null) {
            setValue();
        }

    },
    failure: function (data) {
        $('#errMessage').text("Error...");
    },
    error: function (data) {
        $('#errMessage').text("Error...");
    }
});
Pansir answered 4/7, 2018 at 12:8 Comment(0)
C
0

You need to read from the configuration section manually before your code returns a JsonResult object. Simply read from web.config in single line:

        var jsonResult = Json(resultsForAjaxUI);
        jsonResult.MaxJsonLength = (ConfigurationManager.GetSection("system.web.extensions/scripting/webServices/jsonSerialization") as System.Web.Configuration.ScriptingJsonSerializationSection).MaxJsonLength;
        return jsonResult;

Be sure you defined configuration element in web.config

Conroy answered 15/8, 2017 at 11:28 Comment(0)
H
0

this worked for me

        JsonSerializerSettings json = new JsonSerializerSettings
        {
            ReferenceLoopHandling = ReferenceLoopHandling.Ignore
        };
        var result = JsonConvert.SerializeObject(list, Formatting.Indented, json);
        return new JsonResult { Data = result, MaxJsonLength = int.MaxValue };
Hindustani answered 21/8, 2018 at 14:38 Comment(0)
E
0

You can put this code in cshtml if you are returning view from controller and you want to increase the length of view bag data while encoding in json in cshtml

@{
    var jss = new System.Web.Script.Serialization.JavaScriptSerializer();
    jss.MaxJsonLength = Int32.MaxValue;
    var userInfoJson = jss.Serialize(ViewBag.ActionObj);
}

var dataJsonOnActionGrid1 = @Html.Raw(userInfoJson);

Now, dataJsonOnActionGrid1 will be accesible on js page and you will get proper result.

Thanks

Ectropion answered 1/4, 2019 at 7:52 Comment(0)

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