Creating a domain model without circular references in Entity Framework

Question

I have found a solution that works (using DTOs and AutoMapper), which is reproduced below, but I would prefer an answer that lists the different approaches to the pro

Answer 1

I have found a solution that works (using DTOs and AutoMapper), which is reproduced below, but I would still prefer an answer that lists the different approaches to the problem with examples, in particular whether this is a desirable solution, or whether I should stick with the navigation properties as they were, get rid of AutoFixture, and when it comes to serializing for json just utilise other work arounds (attributes etc)...

So, in my View Model, I added a couple of classes:

public class GameDTO
{
    public int Id { get; set; }
    public int CreatorId { get; set; }

    public ICollection UserTeamsDTO { get; set; }
}

public class UserTeamDTO : UserTeam
{
    public UserProfile User { get; set; }
}

And in my controller, I use AutoMapper to map the Game / UserTeam objects from the repository to my DTO objects, and return the IList _gamesDto to the View.

var _games = _gameRepository.GetAllGames();

IList _gamesDto = new List();
IList _userteamsDto = new List();
GameDTO _gameDto = new GameDTO();
UserTeamDTO _userteamDto = new UserTeamDTO();
Mapper.CreateMap();
Mapper.CreateMap();

foreach (Game _game in _games)
{
    foreach (UserTeam _userteam in _game.UserTeams)
    {
        _userteamDto = Mapper.Map(_userteam);
        _userteamDto.User = _userRepository.GetUser(_userteam.UserId);
        _userteamsDto.Add(_userteamDto);
    }

    _gameDto = Mapper.Map(_game);
    _gameDto.UserTeamsDTO = _userteamsDto;
    _gamesDto.Add(_gameDto);
}