Return JSON from WebApi controller using Included properties

Question

I would like to return JSON from Web Api 2 controller. My current code does not work on Included properties. My get method is:

[System.Web.Mvc.HttpGet]
public IQueryable<Employee> GetEmployee()
{
    return db.Employee.Include(x=>x.Department);
}

I've added this line to my WebApiConfig:

config.Formatters.JsonFormatter.SupportedMediaTypes.Add(new MediaTypeHeaderValue("text/html"));

On get I'm getting this error:

The 'ObjectContent`1' type failed to serialize the response body for content type 'application/json; charset=utf-8'.

When I was using standard controller (not the Api one) my code was :

[HttpGet]
public ActionResult GetCountries()
{
    var countries = JsonConvert.SerializeObject(db.Countries.Include(x => x.Regions), Formatting.None, new JsonSerializerSettings() {ReferenceLoopHandling = Newtonsoft.Json.ReferenceLoopHandling.Ignore });
    return Content(countries, "application/json");

}

But Content() is specific for Controller class and I guess it cant be used in WebApi Controllers.

Desired JSON structure is:

[
    {
        "Iso3": "AL",
        "CountryNameEnglish": "Alaska",
        "Regions": [
            {
                "RegionCode": "AL1",
                "Iso3": "AL",
                "RegionNameEnglish": "Alaskan Region 1"
            },
            {
                "RegionCode": "AL2",
                "Iso3": "AL",
                "RegionNameEnglish": "Alaskan Region 2"
            }
        ]
    }
]

Does anybody know how to handle this?

xcelm · Accepted Answer · 2019-05-03 18:02:45Z

1

I figured it out after a long while:

[System.Web.Mvc.HttpGet]
public IHttpActionResult GetEmployee()
{
    var employee= db.Employee.Include(x => x.Department);
    return Json(employee, new JsonSerializerSettings(){ReferenceLoopHandling = ReferenceLoopHandling.Ignore});

}

answered May 3, 2019 at 18:02

xcelm

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