Connecting EF Data to Grid "circular reference" error

[Bob]

So I have a grid that is populated from EF5

@model IEnumerable<HCS.Model.FinancialInstitution>
@(Html.Kendo().Grid(Model)

                .Name("Grid")

                .Columns(columns =>

                {

                    columns.Bound(p => p.ID).Visible(false);

                    columns.Bound(p => p.MainRT).Title("RT").Groupable(false);

                    columns.Bound(p => p.LegalName).Title("FI Name");

                })

                .Sortable()

                .Scrollable()

                .Filterable()

                .Selectable()                              

                .DataSource(dataSource => dataSource

                            .Ajax()

                            .ServerOperation(false))

                             

)

I recently added a new table to the database that has a FK to the FinancialInstitution table
I updated the model and the association and navigation are now present.

However, now I get the following error:

"A circular reference was detected while serializing an object of type 'System.Data.Entity.DynamicProxies.FinancialInstitution_1..."
 
I have found a few articles suggesting the disabling of proxy creation, but this doesn't seem to help.

public ActionResult Grid()

        {

            context.Configuration.ProxyCreationEnabled = false;

            var model = context.FinancialInstitutions.ToList();

            return View();

        }

 I also found a blog that suggests a workaround however, I am confused as to whether or not I will have to do something every time a call is made to EF to rewire the JSON results

[Bob]

Looks like this article addresses it...
How Do I Avoid Circular Reference?

[Rene]

There's another way of handling this.

Base your EF model on a DB View as opposed to a table - where your view has all the data flattened out.

I

[Chris]

Hi Bob,

I'm coming into this a bit late (and am new to both MVC and Kendo; finally moving from Web Forms).. I have virtually the exact error you describe. I also tried disabling proxy creation to no avail. I also created a ViewModel rather than binding directly to the domain model but it didn't change anything.

Wondered if you solved this?

[Bob]

I solved it by creating a model with the data "flattened out".

The post above using a db view wasn't there when I solved the problem or I might have used that approach.