在WebApiConfig.cs类中使用:

var json = config.Formatters.JsonFormatter;
json.SerializerSettings.PreserveReferencesHandling = Newtonsoft.Json.PreserveReferencesHandling.Objects;
config.Formatters.Remove(config.Formatters.XmlFormatter);

使用JsonSerializerSettings

ReferenceLoopHandling。如果遇到引用循环，Error(默认)将出错。这就是为什么会出现异常。 ReferenceLoopHandling。如果对象嵌套但不是无限的，序列化是有用的。 ReferenceLoopHandling。如果对象是自身的子对象，Ignore将不会序列化该对象。

例子:

JsonConvert.SerializeObject(YourPOCOHere, Formatting.Indented, 
new JsonSerializerSettings 
{ 
        ReferenceLoopHandling = ReferenceLoopHandling.Serialize
});

如果你必须序列化一个无限嵌套的对象，你可以使用PreserveObjectReferences来避免StackOverflowException。

例子:

JsonConvert.SerializeObject(YourPOCOHere, Formatting.Indented, 
new JsonSerializerSettings 
{ 
        PreserveReferencesHandling = PreserveReferencesHandling.Objects
});

选择对要序列化的对象有意义的内容。

参考http://james.newtonking.com/json/help/

在WebApiConfig.cs类中使用:

var json = config.Formatters.JsonFormatter;
json.SerializerSettings.PreserveReferencesHandling = Newtonsoft.Json.PreserveReferencesHandling.Objects;
config.Formatters.Remove(config.Formatters.XmlFormatter);

c#代码:

            var jsonSerializerSettings = new JsonSerializerSettings
            {
                ReferenceLoopHandling = ReferenceLoopHandling.Serialize,
                PreserveReferencesHandling = PreserveReferencesHandling.Objects,
            };

            var jsonString = JsonConvert.SerializeObject(object2Serialize, jsonSerializerSettings);

            var filePath = @"E:\json.json";

            File.WriteAllText(filePath, jsonString);

要在MVC 6中忽略循环引用并且不全局序列化它们，请在startup.cs中使用以下命令:

    public void ConfigureServices(IServiceCollection services)
    {
        services.AddMvc().Configure<MvcOptions>(options =>
        {
            options.OutputFormatters.RemoveTypesOf<JsonOutputFormatter>();
            var jsonOutputFormatter = new JsonOutputFormatter();
            jsonOutputFormatter.SerializerSettings.ReferenceLoopHandling = Newtonsoft.Json.ReferenceLoopHandling.Ignore;
            options.OutputFormatters.Insert(0, jsonOutputFormatter);
        });
    }

在。net Core 1.0中，你可以在Startup.cs文件中设置全局设置:

using System.Buffers;
using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc.Formatters;
using Newtonsoft.Json;

// beginning of Startup class

    public void ConfigureServices(IServiceCollection services)
    {
        services.AddMvc(options =>
        {
            options.OutputFormatters.Clear();
            options.OutputFormatters.Add(new JsonOutputFormatter(new JsonSerializerSettings(){
                ReferenceLoopHandling = ReferenceLoopHandling.Ignore,
            }, ArrayPool<char>.Shared));
        });
    }