This example demonstrates how we can load a JSON dataset from remote web-service or REST point - in our case StackOverflow - and bind it directly to the grid - all on the server side. First fetch the JSON via a standard jQuery $.ajax call, then use a simple loop to transoform it to an array and bind it directly to the grid.
This example shows the last 30 posts about jqGrid on StackOverflow, along with a link to the post + view count.