How to serialize Xml Date only from DateTime in C#

Question

I've the following simple class;

Birthdays
{
  public DateTime DateOfBirth {get;set;}
  public string Name {get;set;}
}

I then serialise my object to Xml using;

try
{
   XmlSerializer serializer = new XmlSerializer(obj.GetType());

   using (MemoryStream ms = new MemoryStream())
   {
        XmlDocument xmlDoc = new XmlDocument();

        serializer.Serialize(ms, obj);
        ms.Position = 0;
        xmlDoc.Load(ms);
        return xmlDoc;
    }
}
catch (Exception e)
{
    ....
}

The problem I have is that when the Xml is returned the DateOfBirth format is like 2012-11-14T00:00:00 and not 2012-11-14.

How can I override it so that I'm only returning the date part ?

score 30 · Accepted Answer · edited May 23 '17 at 12:00

You should use the XmlElementAttribute.DataType property and specify date.

public class Birthdays
{
  [XmlElement(DataType="date")]
  public DateTime DateOfBirth {get;set;}
  public string Name {get;set;}
}

Using this outputs

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-16"?>
<Birthdays xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema">
  <DateOfBirth>2013-11-14</DateOfBirth>
  <Name>John Smith</Name>
</Birthdays>

Another option is to use a string property just for serialization (backed by a DateTime property you use), as at Force XmlSerializer to serialize DateTime as 'YYYY-MM-DD hh:mm:ss' (this is needed for DataContractSerializer, where the xs:date type is not as well-supported)

better than my answer I have to admit :) – Ole Albers Nov 14 '13 at 16:54 — Ole Albers, Nov 14 '13 at 16:54

score -1 · Answer 2 · answered Nov 14 '13 at 16:49

-1

Try this example out:

        string date = "2012-11-14T00:00:00";

        string result = DateTime.Parse(date).ToShortDateString();

        //or....

        DateTime dateTime = new DateTime();

        dateTime = DateTime.Parse(date);
        //now its only use dateTime.Date

answered Nov 14 '13 at 16:49

terrybozzio

4,424
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(second part:) Would cut off any existing time, but still "dateTime" has the 00:00 Time. Would not change a thing. – Ole Albers Nov 14 '13 at 16:51
thats why i commented use datetime.Date. – terrybozzio Nov 14 '13 at 16:52
But still: The xml would look just like before – Ole Albers Nov 14 '13 at 16:53
1

if the problem is in wants serialized then not mine not yours but tim S.(for a single property result i mean).my answer is to not rewrite the class(although it is the best solution),and just "get" the desired formatt. – terrybozzio Nov 14 '13 at 16:54
Helped me get there for XElement save of just the date, thanks. – Chuck Savage Sep 08 '20 at 23:06

How to serialize Xml Date only from DateTime in C#

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