Dynamic JavaScript Returned By Webapi

I am using requirejs to load JavaScript for my page. I have a webApi route that dynamically reads from a file and returns JSON using the Newtonsoft JObject. On the client side I

Solution 1:

You want this question: Is there a way to force ASP.NET Web API to return plain text?

You don't need to create a PlainTextFormatter (I think the only benefit is automatic capturing when text/plain is requested?), you just need a helper method:

    /// <summary>
    /// Generate raw content from the given string output.
    /// <para>See https://stackoverflow.com/a/13028027/1037948 and https://stackoverflow.com/a/11582207/1037948 </para>
    /// </summary>
    /// <param name="responseBody"></param>
    /// <param name="mediaType"></param>
    /// <returns></returns>
    private HttpResponseMessage getRawResponse(string responseBody, string mediaType = "text/plain") {

        var response = Request.CreateResponse(HttpStatusCode.OK);
        response.Content = new StringContent(responseBody, Encoding.UTF8, mediaType);
        return response;
    }

Then for any GetSomething method(s), you write:

    public object GetMySomething1() {

        return getRawResponse(string.Format(@"window.SomeValue = {{{0}}}",
                            string.Join(",",
                                        Enum.GetValues(typeof(RandomEnum)).Cast<RandomEnum>().Select(o => string.Format("{0}:\"{1}\"", o, o)))
            ));
    }

Which results in a request to /myapicontroller/getmysomething1/ (assuming your route is set up to allow actions) returning:

window.SomeValue = {RandomValue1:"RandomValue1",RandomValue2:"RandomValue2",...}