I am using WCF REST service (GET method) to retrieve my EF4 POCOs. The service seem to work just fine. When I query the uri in my browser I get the results as expected.

In my client application I am trying to use WCF REST Starter Kit's HTTPExtension method - ReadAsDataContract() to convert the result back into my POCO. This works fine when the POCO's navigation property is a single object of related POCO. The problem is when the navigation property is a collection of related POCOs. The ReadAsDataContract() method throws an exception with message "Object reference not set to an instance of an object."

Below are my POCOs.

[DataContract(Namespace = "", Name = "Trip")]
public class Trip
{
    [DataMember(Order = 1)]
    public virtual int TripID { get; set; }

    [DataMember(Order = 2)]
    public virtual int RegionID { get; set; }

    [DataMember(Order = 3)]
    public virtual System.DateTime BookingDate { get; set; }

    [DataMember(Order = 4)]
    public virtual Region Region { // removed for brevity 
    }
}

[DataContract(Namespace = "", Name = "Region")]
public class Region 
{
    [DataMember(Order = 1)]
    public virtual int RegionID { get; set; }

    [DataMember(Order = 2)]
    public virtual string RegionCode { get; set; }

    [DataMember(Order = 3)]
    public virtual FixupCollection<Trip> Trips { // removed for brevity
    }
}

[CollectionDataContract(Namespace = "", Name = "{0}s", ItemName = "{0}")]
[Serializable]
public class FixupCollection<T> : ObservableCollection<T>
{
    protected override void ClearItems()
    {
        new List<T>(this).ForEach(t => Remove(t));
    }

    protected override void InsertItem(int index, T item)
    {
        if (!this.Contains(item))
        {
            base.InsertItem(index, item);
        }
    }
}

And this is how I am trying retrieve a Region POCO.

static void GetRegion()
    {   
        string uri = "http://localhost:8080/TripService/Regions?id=1";
        HttpClient client = new HttpClient(uri);

        using (HttpResponseMessage response = client.Get(uri))
        {
            Region region;
            response.EnsureStatusIsSuccessful();
            try
            {  
                region = response.Content.ReadAsDataContract<Region>(); // this line throws exception because Region returns a collection of related trips
                Console.WriteLine(region.RegionName);                    
            }
            catch (Exception ex)
            {
               Console.WriteLine(ex.Message);
            }
        }
    }

Would appreciate any pointers.