why In web api returning an entity that has a one to many relationship causes an error?

Question

Guys I have a One to many relation to same class called user,
I am returning one instance of user in web apis get method it works fine as far as I don't have any

User 

ID  | Name 
0   | A 
1   | B 

Friends Table ( This table is used to build the one to many relationship ) 

User_ID | Friend_ID 
 1      |     0 
 0      |     1

This is my GetMethod

[HttpGet]
        public Models.User   Authenticate()
        {
            try
            {
                return   db.Users.SingleOrDefault(x => x.ID == 0 ) ; 
            } 
            catch
            {
                return null;
            }
        }

If I get and return a User entity then I get the blow error

Can anyone please help me to fix this below error ?

{"Message":"An error has occurred.","ExceptionMessage":"The 'ObjectContent`1' type failed to serialize the response body for content type 'text/html; charset=utf-8'.","ExceptionType":"System.InvalidOperationException","StackTrace":null,"InnerException":{"Message":"An error has occurred.","ExceptionMessage":"Self referencing loop detected with type 'System.Data.Entity.DynamicProxies.Friend_E5C79F4736EB2750392FFC7061B18E9C12F15F9583409603C75C5D1B1F7358D4'. Path 'Friends1[0].User.Friends'.","ExceptionType":"Newtonsoft.Json.JsonSerializationException","StackTrace":" at Newtonsoft.Json.Serialization.JsonSerializerInternalWriter.CheckForCircularReference(JsonWriter writer, Object value, JsonProperty property, JsonContract contract, JsonContainerContract containerContract, JsonProperty containerProperty)\r\n at Newtonsoft.Json.Serialization.JsonSerializerInternalWriter.SerializeList(JsonWriter writer, IWrappedCollection values, JsonArrayContract contract, JsonProperty member, JsonContainerContract collectionContract, JsonProperty containerProperty)\r\n at Newtonsoft.Json.Serialization.JsonSerializerInternalWriter.SerializeValue(JsonWriter writer, Object value, JsonContract valueContract, JsonProperty member, JsonContainerContract containerContract, JsonProperty containerProperty)\r\n at Newtonsoft.Json.Serialization.JsonSerializerInternalWriter.SerializeObject(JsonWriter writer, Object value, JsonObjectContract contract, JsonProperty member, JsonContainerContract collectionContract, JsonProperty containerProperty)\r\n at Newtonsoft.Json.Serialization.JsonSerializerInternalWriter.SerializeValue(JsonWriter writer, Object value, JsonContract valueContract, JsonProperty member, JsonContainerContract containerContract, JsonProperty containerProperty)\r\n at Newtonsoft.Json.Serialization.JsonSerializerInternalWriter.SerializeObject(JsonWriter writer, Object value, JsonObjectContract contract, JsonProperty member, JsonContainerContract collectionContract, JsonProperty containerProperty)\r\n at Newtonsoft.Json.Serialization.JsonSerializerInternalWriter.SerializeValue(JsonWriter writer, Object value, JsonContract valueContract, JsonProperty member, JsonContainerContract containerContract, JsonProperty containerProperty)\r\n at Newtonsoft.Json.Serialization.JsonSerializerInternalWriter.SerializeList(JsonWriter writer, IWrappedCollection values, JsonArrayContract contract, JsonProperty member, JsonContainerContract collectionContract, JsonProperty containerProperty)\r\n at Newtonsoft.Json.Serialization.JsonSerializerInternalWriter.SerializeValue(JsonWriter writer, Object value, JsonContract valueContract, JsonProperty member, JsonContainerContract containerContract, JsonProperty containerProperty)\r\n at Newtonsoft.Json.Serialization.JsonSerializerInternalWriter.SerializeObject(JsonWriter writer, Object value, JsonObjectContract contract, JsonProperty member, JsonContainerContract collectionContract, JsonProperty containerProperty)\r\n at Newtonsoft.Json.Serialization.JsonSerializerInternalWriter.SerializeValue(JsonWriter writer, Object value, JsonContract valueContract, JsonProperty member, JsonContainerContract containerContract, JsonProperty containerProperty)\r\n at Newtonsoft.Json.Serialization.JsonSerializerInternalWriter.Serialize(JsonWriter jsonWriter, Object value)\r\n at Newtonsoft.Json.JsonSerializer.SerializeInternal(JsonWriter jsonWriter, Object value)\r\n at Newtonsoft.Json.JsonSerializer.Serialize(JsonWriter jsonWriter, Object value)\r\n at System.Net.Http.Formatting.JsonMediaTypeFormatter.<>c__DisplayClassd.b__c()\r\n at System.Threading.Tasks.TaskHelpers.RunSynchronously(Action action, CancellationToken token)"}}

Updated my Question , I have added my GetMethod to the question — Kas
Actully , I am using a Guid as ID ,But in my question i said it as an int field , because I am thinking that the error is not causing because of the guide , however I am expecting a good solution from someone :) — Kas
Can you try exec query and don't return noting, it seems you have error in you models. Try this: var t = db.Users.SingleOrDefault(x => x.ID == 0); return (User)null; — alexmac
This returns the User with ID zero , But it doesn't return from web-api , I am requesting json format as return type of web-api , I was debugging the get method , And I can get the correct user entity, but when return it from web-api , I get that error — Kas

alexmac alexmac · Accepted Answer · 2013-10-29T16:58:20

Try to change webApi formatter. Add these lines in WebApiConfig.cs:

var json = config.Formatters.JsonFormatter;
json.SerializerSettings.PreserveReferencesHandling = Newtonsoft.Json.PreserveReferencesHandling.Objects;
config.Formatters.Remove(config.Formatters.XmlFormatter);

And add this line:

json.SerializerSettings.ReferenceLoopHandling = Newtonsoft.Json.ReferenceLoopHandling.Ignore

why In web api returning an entity that has a one to many relationship causes an error?

2 Answers