C# - Difficulty Serializing Complex Objects with Circular References Using Newtonsoft.Json
I'm working with a frustrating scenario while trying to serialize a complex object graph that contains circular references using Newtonsoft.Json... Specifically, I have a `Category` class that has a self-referencing property for child categories. When attempting to serialize this object, I receive the behavior: `Newtonsoft.Json.JsonSerializationException: Self referencing loop detected for property 'ChildCategories'`. I've tried to resolve this by setting `ReferenceLoopHandling` to `Ignore` and `PreserveReferencesHandling` to `Objects`, but neither approach seems to work as expected. Here’s an example of my classes: ```csharp public class Category { public int Id { get; set; } public string Name { get; set; } public List<Category> ChildCategories { get; set; } } ``` And here is how I’m trying to serialize it: ```csharp var rootCategory = new Category { Id = 1, Name = "Electronics", ChildCategories = new List<Category> { new Category { Id = 2, Name = "Mobiles" }, new Category { Id = 3, Name = "Laptops" } } }; var settings = new JsonSerializerSettings { ReferenceLoopHandling = ReferenceLoopHandling.Ignore, PreserveReferencesHandling = PreserveReferencesHandling.Objects }; string json = JsonConvert.SerializeObject(rootCategory, settings); ``` Despite applying the settings, I still face the same serialization behavior. I’ve also checked if I need to apply any attributes on the properties, but I’ve only tried using `[JsonIgnore]` on `ChildCategories` which isn’t a desirable solution as I want to include that information. I'm using Newtonsoft.Json version 13.0.1. Is there something I'm missing or another best practice for handling circular references in complex object graphs? Any insights would be greatly appreciated! This is part of a larger microservice I'm building. This is my first time working with C# 3.10. Is this even possible?