How/What Do Web Services Return when Creating a JSON Data Layer?
Excuse my ignorance on this subject but is there a standard used when creating a JSON object as a data-layer for a web application from a web service? The part I don't understand is if I have a web service that returns data and the end result is to create a JSON object used as a data-layer, Is it usually the Web application takes the data from the web service and creates the data-layer or is it the web service returns the JSON object complete? Or could it be either way?
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Typically you have the following
A model (database)
a web service
a web service consumer (client app)
When you query a web service, it builds a data model to return and then converts that into a representation that can be sent to a remote client.
Your data model could be anything from a string to a complex C structure. The web service will convert this into
JSON
XML
HTML
CSV
or a Custom format
And return the data as text.
The client will receive the response from the service and will then convert it into a local representation of the model in whatever environment that may be.
So to answer your question, the web service will convert the response into JSON (where a JSON service is implemented) and return the JSON string. The consumer (client) will convert the string into whatever format it needs to work with it - in JavaScript that would be a JavaScript object.
JSON and XML (SOAP) are common formats but the service can return anything provided that the return format is constant and documented.