Unable to serialize RelationshipManager with JSON.NET

Question

I receive this error when I am trying to serialise a entity framework class with a circular reference (POCO). It is unable to serialise the proxy class which contains a RelationshipManager.

I have tried to the 'ToList()' method listed here http://json.codeplex.com/discussions/214093, but still no luck. Any ideas?

Here is an example of the exception i am receiving.

System.Reflection.TargetInvocationException was unhandled by user code
  Message=Exception has been thrown by the target of an invocation.
  Source=mscorlib
  StackTrace:
       at System.RuntimeMethodHandle._InvokeMethodFast(IRuntimeMethodInfo method, Object target, Object[] arguments, SignatureStruct& sig, MethodAttributes methodAttributes, RuntimeType typeOwner)
       at System.RuntimeMethodHandle.InvokeMethodFast(IRuntimeMethodInfo method, Object target, Object[] arguments, Signature sig, MethodAttributes methodAttributes, RuntimeType typeOwner)
       at System.Reflection.RuntimeMethodInfo.Invoke(Object obj, BindingFlags invokeAttr, Binder binder, Object[] parameters, CultureInfo culture, Boolean skipVisibilityChecks)
       at System.Reflection.RuntimeMethodInfo.Invoke(Object obj, BindingFlags invokeAttr, Binder binder, Object[] parameters, CultureInfo culture)
       at System.Reflection.MethodBase.Invoke(Object obj, Object[] parameters)
       at Newtonsoft.Json.Serialization.JsonContract.InvokeOnSerializing(Object o, StreamingContext context) in d:\Development\Releases\Json\Working\Src\Newtonsoft.Json\Serialization\JsonContract.cs:line 111
       at Newtonsoft.Json.Serialization.JsonSerializerInternalWriter.SerializeObject(JsonWriter writer, Object value, JsonObjectContract contract, JsonProperty member, JsonContract collectionValueContract) in d:\Development\Releases\Json\Working\Src\Newtonsoft.Json\Serialization\JsonSerializerInternalWriter.cs:line 293
       at Newtonsoft.Json.Serialization.JsonSerializerInternalWriter.SerializeValue(JsonWriter writer, Object value, JsonContract valueContract, JsonProperty member, JsonContract collectionValueContract) in d:\Development\Releases\Json\Working\Src\Newtonsoft.Json\Serialization\JsonSerializerInternalWriter.cs:line 117
       at Newtonsoft.Json.Serialization.JsonSerializerInternalWriter.WriteMemberInfoProperty(JsonWriter writer, Object memberValue, JsonProperty property, JsonContract contract) in d:\Development\Releases\Json\Working\Src\Newtonsoft.Json\Serialization\JsonSerializerInternalWriter.cs:line 204
       at Newtonsoft.Json.Serialization.JsonSerializerInternalWriter.SerializeObject(JsonWriter writer, Object value, JsonObjectContract contract, JsonProperty member, JsonContract collectionValueContract) in d:\Development\Releases\Json\Working\Src\Newtonsoft.Json\Serialization\JsonSerializerInternalWriter.cs:line 328
       at Newtonsoft.Json.Serialization.JsonSerializerInternalWriter.SerializeValue(JsonWriter writer, Object value, JsonContract valueContract, JsonProperty member, JsonContract collectionValueContract) in d:\Development\Releases\Json\Working\Src\Newtonsoft.Json\Serialization\JsonSerializerInternalWriter.cs:line 117
       at Newtonsoft.Json.Serialization.JsonSerializerInternalWriter.WriteMemberInfoProperty(JsonWriter writer, Object memberValue, JsonProperty property, JsonContract contract) in d:\Development\Releases\Json\Working\Src\Newtonsoft.Json\Serialization\JsonSerializerInternalWriter.cs:line 204
       at Newtonsoft.Json.Serialization.JsonSerializerInternalWriter.SerializeObject(JsonWriter writer, Object value, JsonObjectContract contract, JsonProperty member, JsonContract collectionValueContract) in d:\Development\Releases\Json\Working\Src\Newtonsoft.Json\Serialization\JsonSerializerInternalWriter.cs:line 328
       at Newtonsoft.Json.Serialization.JsonSerializerInternalWriter.SerializeValue(JsonWriter writer, Object value, JsonContract valueContract, JsonProperty member, JsonContract collectionValueContract) in d:\Development\Releases\Json\Working\Src\Newtonsoft.Json\Serialization\JsonSerializerInternalWriter.cs:line 117
       at Newtonsoft.Json.Serialization.JsonSerializerInternalWriter.SerializeList(JsonWriter writer, IWrappedCollection values, JsonArrayContract contract, JsonProperty member, JsonContract collectionValueContract) in d:\Development\Releases\Json\Working\Src\Newtonsoft.Json\Serialization\JsonSerializerInternalWriter.cs:line 429
       at Newtonsoft.Json.Serialization.JsonSerializerInternalWriter.SerializeValue(JsonWriter writer, Object value, JsonContract valueContract, JsonProperty member, JsonContract collectionValueContract) in d:\Development\Releases\Json\Working\Src\Newtonsoft.Json\Serialization\JsonSerializerInternalWriter.cs:line 127
       at Newtonsoft.Json.Serialization.JsonSerializerInternalWriter.Serialize(JsonWriter jsonWriter, Object value) in d:\Development\Releases\Json\Working\Src\Newtonsoft.Json\Serialization\JsonSerializerInternalWriter.cs:line 70
       at Newtonsoft.Json.JsonSerializer.SerializeInternal(JsonWriter jsonWriter, Object value) in d:\Development\Releases\Json\Working\Src\Newtonsoft.Json\JsonSerializer.cs:line 451
       at Newtonsoft.Json.JsonSerializer.Serialize(JsonWriter jsonWriter, Object value) in d:\Development\Releases\Json\Working\Src\Newtonsoft.Json\JsonSerializer.cs:line 443
       at Newtonsoft.Json.JsonConvert.SerializeObject(Object value, Formatting formatting, JsonSerializerSettings settings) in d:\Development\Releases\Json\Working\Src\Newtonsoft.Json\JsonConvert.cs:line 591
       at Route25.Events.API.Formatters.JsonPFormatter.OnWriteToStream(Type type, Object value, Stream stream, HttpContentHeaders contentHeaders, TransportContext context) in E:\Projects\Route25.Events\Route25.Events.API\Formatters\JsonPFormatter.cs:line 75
       at Microsoft.ApplicationServer.Http.MediaTypeFormatter.WriteToStream(Type type, Object instance, Stream stream, HttpContentHeaders contentHeaders, TransportContext context)
       at Microsoft.ApplicationServer.Http.ObjectContent.WriteToStreamInternal(Stream stream, TransportContext context)
       at Microsoft.ApplicationServer.Http.ObjectContent.SerializeToStream(Stream stream, TransportContext context)
       at System.Net.Http.HttpContent.CopyTo(Stream stream, TransportContext context)
       at System.Net.Http.HttpContent.CopyTo(Stream stream)
       at Microsoft.ApplicationServer.Http.Channels.HttpMessageEncoderFactory.HttpMessageEncoder.WriteMessage(Message message, Stream stream)
       at Microsoft.ApplicationServer.Http.Channels.HttpMessageEncoderFactory.HttpMessageEncoder.WriteMessage(Message message, Int32 maxMessageSize, BufferManager bufferManager, Int32 messageOffset)
       at System.ServiceModel.Channels.HttpOutput.SerializeBufferedMessage(Message message)
       at System.ServiceModel.Channels.HttpOutput.SendAsyncResult.SendWithoutChannelBindingToken()
       at System.ServiceModel.Channels.HttpOutput.SendAsyncResult.Send()
       at System.ServiceModel.Channels.HttpOutput.SendAsyncResult..ctor(HttpOutput httpOutput, Boolean suppressEntityBody, TimeSpan timeout, AsyncCallback callback, Object state)
       at System.ServiceModel.Channels.HttpOutput.BeginSend(TimeSpan timeout, AsyncCallback callback, Object state)
       at System.ServiceModel.Channels.HttpRequestContext.ReplyAsyncResult.SendResponse()
       at System.ServiceModel.Channels.HttpRequestContext.ReplyAsyncResult..ctor(HttpRequestContext context, Message message, TimeSpan timeout, AsyncCallback callback, Object state)
       at System.ServiceModel.Channels.HttpRequestContext.OnBeginReply(Message message, TimeSpan timeout, AsyncCallback callback, Object state)
       at System.ServiceModel.Activation.HostedHttpContext.OnBeginReply(Message message, TimeSpan timeout, AsyncCallback callback, Object state)
       at System.ServiceModel.Channels.RequestContextBase.BeginReply(Message message, TimeSpan timeout, AsyncCallback callback, Object state)
       at Microsoft.ApplicationServer.Http.Channels.HttpMessageEncodingRequestContext.BeginReply(Message message, TimeSpan timeout, AsyncCallback callback, Object state)
       at Microsoft.ApplicationServer.Http.Channels.HttpMessageHandlerChannel.ReceiveAsyncResultBase.HttpMessageHandlerRequestContext.ReplyAsyncResult.ContinueReplyPath(HttpResponseMessage httpResponse)
  InnerException: System.InvalidOperationException
       Message=The RelationshipManager object could not be serialized. This type of object cannot be serialized when the RelationshipManager belongs to an entity object that does not implement IEntityWithRelationships.
       Source=System.Data.Entity
       StackTrace:
            at System.Data.Objects.DataClasses.RelationshipManager.OnSerializing(StreamingContext context)
       InnerException:

To replicate simply create two classes that reference each other and use the code-first dbcontext model.

score 1 · Accepted Answer · edited May 23 '17 at 11:55

1

If the problem really is in circular references check this thread for help. But you should not serialize your entities - if serializer tries to serialize RelationshipManager as well you should serialize custom objects instead of entities because RelationshipManager is "infrastructure" part of entity - it is not part of data you really need to serialize and most probably this part has no meaning for target system where you want to pass Json object.

edited May 23 '17 at 11:55

Community

1
1

answered Jun 26 '11 at 08:50

Ladislav Mrnka

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2

Thanx for your prompt reply. I am Aware that the RelationshipManager is apart of the EF4 infrastructure, however my question is aimed at the serialization process of JSON.net. I would expect it to handle such attributes that included as apart of Entity Framework and remove objects and properties that it can not serialize. Nevertheless, I have created a viewmodel for my POCO class. – justacoder Jun 26 '11 at 20:31

Unable to serialize RelationshipManager with JSON.NET

1 Answers1