Self referencing loop detected - Getting back data from WebApi to the browser

Question

Is this because the Question has Answers and the Answers have a reference back to Question?

Yes. It cannot be serialized.

EDIT: See Tallmaris's answer and OttO's comment as it is simpler and can be set globally.

GlobalConfiguration.Configuration.Formatters.JsonFormatter.SerializerSettings.Re‌​ferenceLoopHandling = ReferenceLoopHandling.Ignore;

Old Answer:

Project the EF object Question to your own intermediate or DataTransferObject. This Dto can then be serialized successfully.

public class QuestionDto
{
    public QuestionDto()
    {
        this.Answers = new List<Answer>();
    } 
    public int QuestionId { get; set; }
    ...
    ...
    public string Title { get; set; }
    public List<Answer> Answers { get; set; }
}

Something like:

public IList<QuestionDto> GetQuestions(int subTopicId, int questionStatusId)
{
    var questions = _questionsRepository.GetAll()
        .Where(a => a.SubTopicId == subTopicId &&
               (questionStatusId == 99 ||
                a.QuestionStatusId == questionStatusId))
        .Include(a => a.Answers)
        .ToList();

    var dto = questions.Select(x => new QuestionDto { Title = x.Title ... } );

    return dto; 
}

You can also try this in your Application_Start():

GlobalConfiguration.Configuration.Formatters.JsonFormatter.SerializerSettings.ReferenceLoopHandling = ReferenceLoopHandling.Serialize;

It should fix your problem without going through many hoops.

---

EDIT: As per OttO's comment below, use: ReferenceLoopHandling.Ignore instead.

GlobalConfiguration.Configuration.Formatters.JsonFormatter.SerializerSettings.ReferenceLoopHandling = ReferenceLoopHandling.Ignore;

If using OWIN, remember, no more GlobalSettings for you! You must modify this same setting in an HttpConfiguration object which gets passed to the IAppBuilder UseWebApi function (or whatever service platform you're on)

Would look something like this.

    public void Configuration(IAppBuilder app)
    {      
       //auth config, service registration, etc      
       var config = new HttpConfiguration();
       config.Formatters.JsonFormatter.SerializerSettings.ReferenceLoopHandling = ReferenceLoopHandling.Ignore;
       //other config settings, dependency injection/resolver settings, etc
       app.UseWebApi(config);
}

In ASP.NET Core the fix is as follows:

services
.AddMvc()
.AddJsonOptions(x => x.SerializerSettings.ReferenceLoopHandling = Newtonsoft.Json.ReferenceLoopHandling.Ignore);

ASP.NET Core Web-API (.NET Core 2.0):

// Startup.cs
public void ConfigureServices(IServiceCollection services)
{
    services.AddMvc();
    services.Configure<MvcJsonOptions>(config =>
    {
        config.SerializerSettings.ReferenceLoopHandling = Newtonsoft.Json.ReferenceLoopHandling.Ignore;
    });
}