How do I get AutoMapper to not cache mapped objects?

Question

When AutoMapper encounters an object that\'s already been mapped, it seems to use that object again, instead of trying to re-map it. I believe it does this based on .Equal

Answer 1

It seems that the Equals behaviour of the tree object you're mapping is inappropriate.

The method should only return true if "the specified object is equal to the current object." - http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bsc2ak47.aspx

In your case, you have two tree objects sharing the same id but clearly, they are not "equal" since they have different children.

I suggest looking at why the Equals method has been abused in this way and whether you could get the behaviour you need by not overriding the Equals method, instead using a different method to check the tree id field with a more appropriate name eg. TreeIdsAreEqual.