Breeze Controller not returning proper response - breeze

Question

I have a simple model, it is Entity Framework 5 Code First, ActiveEntity is an abstract class with an int Id property and a bool IsActive field.
public class License:ActiveEntity
{
public string LicenseName { get; set; }
public LicenseType LicenseType { get; set; }
public State State { get; set; }
public DateTime DateIssued { get; set; }
public int ValidFor { get; set; }
}
public class LicenseType:ActiveEntity
{
[StringLength(100),Required]
public string Description { get; set; }
}
public class State:ActiveEntity
{
[StringLength(2)]
[Required]
public string Name { get; set; }
[Display(Name = "Long Name")]
[Required, StringLength(25)]
public string LongName { get; set; }
}
Breeze makes a call to GetLicenses on the LicenseController:
[BreezeController]
public class LicenseController : ApiController
{
private readonly EFContextProvider<LicensingContext> db = new EFContextProvider<LicensingContext>();
[HttpGet]
public string Metadata()
{
return db.Metadata();
}
[HttpPost]
public SaveResult SaveChanges(JObject saveBundle)
{
return db.SaveChanges(saveBundle);
}
[HttpGet]
public IQueryable<License> GetLicenses()
{
//for debugging purposes
var retVal = db.Context.Licenses
.Include(l => l.State)
.Include(l=>l.LicenseType);
return retVal;
}
}
The db context returns the appropriate data but it does not appear in the response.
I don't have enough reputation points to post an image but the license type and state are in the context's response.
However the controller's response does not contain the licensetype object for the first three objects.
[{"$id":"1","$type":"Volt.Telecom.Licensing.Models.License, Volt.Telecom.Licensing.Models","LicenseName":"Low Voltage","State":{"$id":"2","$type":"Volt.Telecom.Licensing.Models.State, Volt.Telecom.Licensing.Models","Name":"FL","LongName":"Florida","IsActive":false,"Id":23},"DateIssued":"2012-11-18T00:00:00.000","ValidFor":1095,"IsActive":false,"Id":1},{"$id":"3","$type":"Volt.Telecom.Licensing.Models.License, Volt.Telecom.Licensing.Models","LicenseName":"Contractors","State":{"$ref":"2"},"DateIssued":"2012-11-18T00:00:00.000","ValidFor":1095,"IsActive":false,"Id":2},{"$id":"4","$type":"Volt.Telecom.Licensing.Models.License, Volt.Telecom.Licensing.Models","LicenseName":"General Contractors","State":{"$ref":"2"},"DateIssued":"2012-11-18T00:00:00.000","ValidFor":1095,"IsActive":false,"Id":3},{"$id":"5","$type":"Volt.Telecom.Licensing.Models.License, Volt.Telecom.Licensing.Models","LicenseName":"Low Voltage","LicenseType":{"$id":"6","$type":"Volt.Telecom.Licensing.Models.LicenseType, Volt.Telecom.Licensing.Models","Description":"Low Voltage","IsActive":false,"Id":1},"State":{"$id":"7","$type":"Volt.Telecom.Licensing.Models.State, Volt.Telecom.Licensing.Models","Name":"CA","LongName":"California","IsActive":false,"Id":35},"DateIssued":"2012-11-18T00:00:00.000","ValidFor":1095,"IsActive":false,"Id":4},{"$id":"8","$type":"Volt.Telecom.Licensing.Models.License, Volt.Telecom.Licensing.Models","LicenseName":"Contractors","LicenseType":{"$id":"9","$type":"Volt.Telecom.Licensing.Models.LicenseType, Volt.Telecom.Licensing.Models","Description":"Contractors","IsActive":false,"Id":2},"State":{"$ref":"7"},"DateIssued":"2012-11-18T00:00:00.000","ValidFor":1095,"IsActive":false,"Id":5},{"$id":"10","$type":"Volt.Telecom.Licensing.Models.License, Volt.Telecom.Licensing.Models","LicenseName":"General Contractors","LicenseType":{"$id":"11","$type":"Volt.Telecom.Licensing.Models.LicenseType, Volt.Telecom.Licensing.Models","Description":"General Contractors","IsActive":false,"Id":3},"State":{"$ref":"7"},"DateIssued":"2012-11-18T00:00:00.000","ValidFor":1095,"IsActive":false,"Id":6}]
Here is the home.js file on the client.
define(['services/logger'], function (logger) {
var system = require('durandal/system');
var serviceName = 'api/License';
// manager is the service gateway and cache holder
var manager = new breeze.EntityManager(serviceName);
var vm = {
activate: getLicenses,
title: 'Licenses',
licenses: ko.observableArray(),
includeExpired: ko.observable(false),
save: saveChanges,
show: ko.observable(false)
};
//vm.includeExpired.subscribe(getLicenses);
function getLicenses() {
log("querying Licenses", null, true);
var query = breeze.EntityQuery.from("GetLicenses");
//if (!vm.includeExpired()) {
// query = query.where("DateIssued.AddDays(ValidFor*-1)" > new Date(Date.now()));
//}
return manager
.executeQuery(query)
.then(querySucceeded)
.fail(queryFailed);
// reload vm.todos with the results
function querySucceeded(data) {
log("queried Licenses", null, true);
vm.licenses(data.results);
vm.show(true); // show the view
}
}
function queryFailed(error) {
log("Query failed: " + error.message, null, true);
}
function saveChanges() {
return manager.saveChanges()
.then(function () { log("changes saved", null, true); })
.fail(saveFailed);
}
function saveFailed(error) {
log("Save failed: " + error.message, null, true);
}
function log(msg, data, showToast) {
logger.log(msg, data, system.getModuleId(vm), showToast);
}
return vm;
//#endregion
});
Any thoughts as to why this would occur and only for the first three items, any help would be appreciated. I like breeze as a potential for some spa's we need to write but this has caused me some concern.
Update 1
If I change the order of the LicenseType_id in the database it works, the initial order was 123123
if it is changed to 312123 or 321123 all six are correct in the response
[{"$id":"1","$type":"Volt.Telecom.Licensing.Models.License, Volt.Telecom.Licensing.Models","LicenseName":"Low Voltage","LicenseType":{"$id":"2","$type":"Volt.Telecom.Licensing.Models.LicenseType, Volt.Telecom.Licensing.Models","Description":"General Contractors","IsActive":false,"Id":3},"State":{"$id":"3","$type":"Volt.Telecom.Licensing.Models.State, Volt.Telecom.Licensing.Models","Name":"FL","LongName":"Florida","IsActive":false,"Id":23},"DateIssued":"2012-11-18T00:00:00.000","ValidFor":1095,"IsActive":false,"Id":1},{"$id":"4","$type":"Volt.Telecom.Licensing.Models.License, Volt.Telecom.Licensing.Models","LicenseName":"Contractors","LicenseType":{"$id":"5","$type":"Volt.Telecom.Licensing.Models.LicenseType, Volt.Telecom.Licensing.Models","Description":"Low Voltage","IsActive":false,"Id":1},"State":{"$ref":"3"},"DateIssued":"2012-11-18T00:00:00.000","ValidFor":1095,"IsActive":false,"Id":2},{"$id":"6","$type":"Volt.Telecom.Licensing.Models.License, Volt.Telecom.Licensing.Models","LicenseName":"General Contractors","LicenseType":{"$id":"7","$type":"Volt.Telecom.Licensing.Models.LicenseType, Volt.Telecom.Licensing.Models","Description":"Contractors","IsActive":false,"Id":2},"State":{"$ref":"3"},"DateIssued":"2012-11-18T00:00:00.000","ValidFor":1095,"IsActive":false,"Id":3},{"$id":"8","$type":"Volt.Telecom.Licensing.Models.License, Volt.Telecom.Licensing.Models","LicenseName":"Low Voltage","LicenseType":{"$ref":"5"},"State":{"$id":"9","$type":"Volt.Telecom.Licensing.Models.State, Volt.Telecom.Licensing.Models","Name":"CA","LongName":"California","IsActive":false,"Id":35},"DateIssued":"2012-11-18T00:00:00.000","ValidFor":1095,"IsActive":false,"Id":4},{"$id":"10","$type":"Volt.Telecom.Licensing.Models.License, Volt.Telecom.Licensing.Models","LicenseName":"Contractors","LicenseType":{"$ref":"7"},"State":{"$ref":"9"},"DateIssued":"2012-11-18T00:00:00.000","ValidFor":1095,"IsActive":false,"Id":5},{"$id":"11","$type":"Volt.Telecom.Licensing.Models.License, Volt.Telecom.Licensing.Models","LicenseName":"General Contractors","LicenseType":{"$ref":"2"},"State":{"$ref":"9"},"DateIssued":"2012-11-18T00:00:00.000","ValidFor":1095,"IsActive":false,"Id":6}]

Answer 1

Edit: As of v 1.3.1 Breeze now DOES support inheritance.
The problem may be that Breeze does not yet support inheritance. There is a UserVoice suggestion here. Please vote on it. We take these suggestions very seriously.
To confirm that this is your issue, can you flatten the structure so that you do not need inheritance and see if the issue goes away.

Answer 2

I think that if something disappears between server to client its because Breeze retain null data column which can disorganize data structure and make knockout binding dysfunctional.
In opting to minimize Breeze performance you can place the attribute in the down level according to your need.
1 - BreezeWebApiConfig.cs level
2 - Controller level
3 - or HttGet level
This attribute works for me:
var jsonx = Breeze.WebApi.BreezeConfig.Instance;
jsonx.GetJsonSerializerSettings().NullValueHandling = Newtonsoft.Json.NullValueHandling.Include;