C# Newtonsoft JsonConvert can't deserializeDateTime properly

Question

We have a MVC.Core project where we're having problems deserializing a DateTime value from a string into a DateTime property.

Here's an example:

public class TestClass
{
    public RecordStatus RecordStatus { get; set; } = RecordStatus.Active;

    [System.ComponentModel.Browsable(false)]
    public DateTime CreatedOn { get; private set; }
}


    string s = @"{""recordStatus"":""Active"",""createdOn"":""2018-03-02T21:39:22.075Z""}";

    JsonSerializerSettings jsonSettings = new JsonSerializerSettings()
    {
        DateFormatString = "yyyy-MM-ddTHH:mm:ss.FFFZ",
        DateTimeZoneHandling = DateTimeZoneHandling.Utc,
        MissingMemberHandling = MissingMemberHandling.Ignore
    };

    TestClass psm = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<TestClass>(s, jsonSettings);

The value of psm.CreatedOn is being set to

{1/1/0001 12:00:00 AM}

I've tried a bunch of different combination of values for the serializer settings with no luck. What am I missing here? I know I'm missing something obvious, but it's on of those days.

Thanks

Can you try a date with the following format as in "MM/dd/yyyy HH:mm:ss"? — Hussein Salman, Mar 08 '18 at 19:26
The string formatting of the datetime we're getting as input is not going to change. The datetime is in ISO format. — MonkeyWrench, Mar 08 '18 at 19:28
"T" is the time designator that precedes the time components of the representation. — Hussein Salman, Mar 08 '18 at 19:32

score 2 · Answer 1 · answered Mar 08 '18 at 19:45

The problem here isn't the format string, that is just fine (as we can see here):

Console.WriteLine(DateTime.ParseExact("2018-03-02T21:39:22.075Z","yyyy-MM-ddTHH:mm:ss.FFFZ", CultureInfo.InvariantCulture));

Yields:

02-Mar-18 4:39:22 PM

The issue is actually the private setter on CreatedOn. If you remove that everything works. In fact, it works with the default serializer settings, so there is no need to do anything with that format string.

If you are set on having a private setter for that field, then I would suggest looking into something like this to make Json.NET use the private setter.

Ah yes, that's most likely the issue... Let me check. – MonkeyWrench Mar 08 '18 at 20:28 — MonkeyWrench, Mar 08 '18 at 20:28

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Mar 08 '18 at 19:47

1

public class TestClass
{
    public RecordStatus RecordStatus { get; set; } = RecordStatus.Active;

    [System.ComponentModel.Browsable(false)]
    public DateTime CreatedOn { get; set; }
}

Remove the private access modifier from the setter for the CreatedOn property

answered Mar 08 '18 at 19:47

Hussein Salman

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You answered first. I'll mark this as the answer. Told you it was a simple problem.... This what happens after a few days of meetings and trying to get back to actual work. – MonkeyWrench Mar 08 '18 at 20:34
@MonkeyWrench actually, Pete answered first. – Evk Mar 08 '18 at 20:37

C# Newtonsoft JsonConvert can't deserializeDateTime properly

2 Answers2