Parsing JSON DateTime from Newtonsoft's JSON Serializer

Question

I've serialized an object using Newtonsoft's JSON serializer, and the DateTime has come through as:

/Date(1237588418563+0000)/

When I $.evalJSON() on that, it is an object but I can't find any normal Date methods like toUTCString on it.

Any ideas what I can do with this?

Does this work for you?: http://www.tek-tips.com/viewthread.cfm?qid=1526126&page=8 — mechanical_meat, Mar 23 '09 at 00:27

James Newton-King · Accepted Answer · 2012-08-01T23:58:28.127

Use one of the JsonConverters that come with Json.NET for working with dates to get a better format. JavaScriptDateTimeConverter will automatically give you a JavaScript date.

public class LogEntry    
{    
  public string Details { get; set; }    
  public DateTime LogDate { get; set; }
}

[Test]
public void WriteJsonDates()
{    
  LogEntry entry = new LogEntry    
  {    
    LogDate = new DateTime(2009, 2, 15, 0, 0, 0, DateTimeKind.Utc),    
    Details = "Application started."    
  };    


  string defaultJson = JsonConvert.SerializeObject(entry);    
  // {"Details":"Application started.","LogDate":"\/Date(1234656000000)\/"}     

  string javascriptJson = JsonConvert.SerializeObject(entry, new JavaScriptDateTimeConverter());    
  // {"Details":"Application started.","LogDate":new Date(1234656000000)}

  string isoJson = JsonConvert.SerializeObject(entry, new IsoDateTimeConverter());    
  // {"Details":"Application started.","LogDate":"2009-02-15T00:00:00Z"}    
}

Documentation: Serializing Dates in JSON with Json.NET

For reference, the namespace on IsoDateTimeConverter is Newtonsoft.Json.Converters and on JsonConvert.SerializeObject it is Newtonsoft.Json — Jarrett Widman, Mar 06 '12 at 05:51

score 16 · Answer 2 · answered Aug 15 '12 at 11:45

I came up with a different approach which might be useful to some. Basically I create my own CustomDateConverter that I call when I need it. The converter takes 2 parameters, a date format e.g. yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss and a TimeZoneInfo, which allows me to convert the date from UTC to the user's time zone:

public class JSONCustomDateConverter : DateTimeConverterBase
{
    private TimeZoneInfo _timeZoneInfo;
    private string _dateFormat;

    public JSONCustomDateConverter(string dateFormat, TimeZoneInfo timeZoneInfo)
    {
        _dateFormat = dateFormat;
        _timeZoneInfo = timeZoneInfo;
    }
    public override bool CanConvert(Type objectType)
    {
        return objectType == typeof(DateTime);
    }

    public override object ReadJson(JsonReader reader, Type objectType, object existingValue, JsonSerializer serializer)
    {
        throw new NotImplementedException();
    }

    public override void WriteJson(JsonWriter writer, object value, JsonSerializer serializer)
    {
        writer.WriteValue(TimeZoneInfo.ConvertTimeFromUtc(Convert.ToDateTime(value), _timeZoneInfo).ToString(_dateFormat));
        writer.Flush();
    }

You can use it like this:

 var jsonString = JsonConvert.SerializeObject(myObject, Formatting.None, new JsonSerializerSettings { NullValueHandling = NullValueHandling.Ignore, Converters = new List<JsonConverter>() { new JSONCustomDateConverter("yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss", loggedUser.Timezone) } });

Obviously you could remove anything related to time zone if you only want custom date formatting. Let me know it that helped!

If someone is looking to extend it by globally registering on Asp.Net MVC.`services.AddMvc() .AddJsonOptions(jsonOption => { jsonOption.SerializerSettings.Converters.Add( new JSONCustomDateConverter("dd/mm/yyy", TimeZoneInfo.FindSystemTimeZoneById("India Standard Time"))); });` — Vikash Kumar, May 03 '17 at 11:24

score 15 · Answer 3 · answered May 12 '12 at 08:43

15

As of Newtonsoft Json.Net version 4.5r5 you use the JsonPropertyAttribute Class class and set its ItemConverterType Property property. Usage:

// class to be serialized
public class MyClass
{
    [JsonProperty(ItemConverterType = typeof(JavaScriptDateTimeConverter))]
    public DateTime? DateTime1;
    public DateTime? DateTime2;
}

As I have observed this will set the DateTimeConverter for all properties in this class not just the one before which is declared.

answered May 12 '12 at 08:43

Anderson

1,011
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This answer is the most up-to-date – Yanick Rochon Feb 26 '13 at 05:15
1

I don't think that I'm understanding what this is supposed to do, or how it's supposed to work. On my class, I have this: [JsonProperty(ItemConverterType = typeof(IsoDateTimeConverter))] public System.DateTime RecordInsertedDate { get; set; } But my dates are still coming through as the default /Date(132456560000000)/ format – James Gray Mar 05 '15 at 20:28
NVM, I was using ServiceStack which was overriding this. You have to use ServiceStack's JsConfig.DateHandler = DateHandler.ISO8601; config setting in your code to get ISO8601 – James Gray Mar 05 '15 at 20:35

score 3 · Answer 4 · edited Jun 17 '16 at 17:37

3

Ran into the same problem, and found a solution based on the link from Adam:

new Date(yourDate.substr(yourDate.indexOf("(") + 1, 13) - 0));

It looks like a Unix timestamp, which javascript is easily able to convert into a date object. The - 0 is simply to make javascript treat the substr output as an integer... I guess you could Number() it as well, if you don't like the looks of - 0

edited Jun 17 '16 at 17:37

Tim S. Van Haren

8,861
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answered Nov 11 '10 at 13:04

peirix

36,512
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score 1 · Answer 5 · edited Oct 28 '12 at 13:41

1

The JSON object contained something like this:

var data = {"CreatedDate":"/Date(1327572000000-1000)/"});

 ///
var oddDateTimeZone = data.CreatedDate;
var utcDateTime = oddDateTimeZone.substr(oddDateTimeZone.indexOf("(")+1, 13);
var utcZone = oddDateTimeZone.substr(oddDateTimeZone.indexOf("-")+1, 4);
var utcDateTimeZone = new Date(Number(utcDateTime)-(Number(utcZone)));

but, still it would be better to fix the JSON object so the date function fired without using something like eval() or window[]. Maybe in jQuery. Not sure.

Don't forget that the offset could be + and not just - for the offset!

edited Oct 28 '12 at 13:41

Peter O.

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answered Feb 04 '12 at 23:42

PowerSparks

11
1

you also use a regex and then eval the text like this: `eval("new " + data.CreateDate.replace(/\//ig,""))` seems to work just fine – Anthony R Sep 25 '15 at 17:37

score -1 · Answer 6 · answered Sep 09 '14 at 15:45

-1

Sorry I simplify a bit @James Newton-King

string date = Newtonsoft.Json.JsonConvert.SerializeObject(DateTime.Now);

answered Sep 09 '14 at 15:45

Ben

501
6
20

score -2 · Answer 7 · edited Aug 17 '18 at 08:36

-2

ObjectMapper mapper = new ObjectMapper();

mapper.registerModule(new JavaTimeModule());

mapper.configure(SerializationFeature.WRITE_DATES_AS_TIMESTAMPS, false);

This works for me

edited Aug 17 '18 at 08:36

Liam

27,717
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answered Feb 04 '16 at 15:36

Jayen Chondigara

387
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What on earth is an `ObjectMapper`? – Liam Aug 17 '18 at 08:37

Parsing JSON DateTime from Newtonsoft's JSON Serializer

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