I see almost everyday people having problem with overriding JSON serializer settings in SignalR. In SignalR 1.x they used an interface, IJsonSerializer, that you could override to set the JSON settings. In SignalR 2.x they instead use a concrete type JsonSerializer.

Ninject

The problem starts if you use a dependency injection framework like Ninject. The Dependency resolver that most people use for Ninject together with SignalR is doing this to get a type.

return kernel.TryGet(serviceType) ?? base.GetService(serviceType);

In SignalR 1.x this worked because when Ninject is doing TryGet on an interface it will return null and instead call base.GetService which in turn will use the type registered with SignalR’s internal IoC (GlobalHost.DependencyResolver).

In SignalR 2.x this will no longer work because we are now using a concrete type and Ninject will create instances of unregistered concrete types without complaining. base.GetService will never be called and the types registered in GlobalHost.DependencyResolver will not be used.

Remedy

One way of solving this is to register the JsonSerializer with the Ninject kernel instead of register it with GlobalHost.DependencyResolver.Register

The other is to check if the type is registered with Ninject, if it is use kernel.Get otherwise use base.GetService. This can be done like

kernel.GetBindings(serviceType).Any();