Read WCF REST date from android

Question

What's the easiest way to read a .NET DateTime sent over a WCF REST service on an android program? The dates are serialized in the following format: Data=/Date(1326273723507+0100)/

Is there an easy way to deserialize this dates?

Thanks.

Something similar, hope it helps ... http://stackoverflow.com/questions/5671373/unparseable-date-1302828677828-trying-to-deserialize-with-gson-a-millisecond — Rajesh, Jan 12 '12 at 11:16
See: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/7589816/net-json-date-format — Peter O., Jan 22 '12 at 11:15

score 8 · Accepted Answer · edited May 23 '17 at 10:30

well I had exactly the same problem, I resolved it with that simple code

public class Json {

  /**
   * Convertit une date Json en java.util.Date
   * @param jsonDate
   * @return
   */
  public static Date JsonDateToDate(String jsonDate)
  {
    //  "/Date(1321867151710+0100)/"
    int idx1 = jsonDate.indexOf("(");
    int idx2 = jsonDate.indexOf(")") - 5;
    String s = jsonDate.substring(idx1+1, idx2);
    long l = Long.valueOf(s);
    return new Date(l);
  }
}

if you use gson, you can also use that solution : gson serialization of Date field in MS WCF compatible form

score 4 · Answer 2 · edited May 23 '17 at 11:47

The XML Serializer serializes Datetime instances using the Ticks property for best precision (the Ticks is the number of 100-nanosecond intervals that have elapsed since 12:00:00 midnight, January 1, 0001). It's the number you are seeing here, followed by +0100 which means GMT + 1:00

To translate ticks into a valid java date, see Jon Skeet's (All roads lead to Jon Skeet) answer here:

C# DateTime.Ticks equivalent in Java

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Jan 22 '12 at 10:54

I'm sending and receiving dates to/from a WCF REST service. After much mucking around converting from ticks to milliseconds since the Epoch (using Jon Skeet's answer), I decided just to store the dates as the Java long values (from date.getTime()) so that I don't do any conversion to and from the Android device. If I need to see them on the .NET side, then I'll do the conversion. So, if you have control over the WCF end and the database, keep them as longs.

Read WCF REST date from android

3 Answers3