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)"}}

Answer 1

Apply the [JsonIgnore] attribute to the navigation property you don't want to be serialised. It will still serialise both the parent and child entities but just avoids the self referencing loop.

Answer 2

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