Json.Net adding $id to EF objects despite setting PreserveReferencesHandling to "None"

Question

I've already looked at how to remove $id during JSON serialization but the answers given do not seem to be working for me and I hope someone can figure out what I am doing wrong.

Here is my code:

return JsonConvert.SerializeObject(target, new JsonSerializerSettings {
    NullValueHandling = NullValueHandling.Include,
    PreserveReferencesHandling = PreserveReferencesHandling.None,
    ContractResolver = new CustomContractResolver(),
    Converters = CustomConverters
});

The output from this is still coming out with $id's, BUT, only on Entity Framework objects, is this by design? If so, is there any way to prevent those $id's on Entity Framework objects?

Answer 1

The custom ContractResolver setting overrides the PreserveReferencesHandling setting.

In your implementation of DefaultContractResolver/IContractResolver, add this;

public override JsonContract ResolveContract(Type type) {
    var contract = base.ResolveContract(type);
    contract.IsReference = false;
    return contract;
}

This behaves similarly to the PreserveReferencesHandling.None setting without a custom ContractResolver.