How to serialize a C# DateTime as a Javascript Date using Web API

Question

In MVC, you can do something like this:

public ActionResult Index()
{
    return Json(new List<DateTime> { DateTime.Parse("19/02/2017") }, 
                JsonRequestBehavior.AllowGet);
}

And the returned value is ["\/Date(1487458800000)\/"], which is a Javascript Date object.

However, using WebAPI like this:

public IEnumerable<DateTime> Get()
{
    return new List<DateTime> { DateTime.Parse("19/02/2017") };
}

The returned value is <dateTime>2017-02-19T00:00:00</dateTime>

Is there any way that I can serialize a DateTime as a Javascript Date object using WebApi?

Hi... do you just need the output to be 1487458800000.. I've found a method that uses date subtraction to calculate the Java date based upon the milliseconds elapsed since 1970 — Wheels73
– Wheels73, Commented Jun 9, 2017 at 11:41
I need the object, because I want to bind it to an input datetime-local using Angular. And according to the documentation: "The model must always be a Date object" — Daniel Marín
– Daniel Marín, Commented Jun 9, 2017 at 11:45
Martin - Could you create the date objects in script when they are passed in? var date = new Date(1487458800000); — Wheels73
– Wheels73, Commented Jun 9, 2017 at 11:47
The date is inside another object, which is inside a list of thousands. I rather not to convert every date. I know there are ways to convert it from string or ticks, but I'm looking for a way to get this simple task during serialization. MVC does, why Web API not? — Daniel Marín
– Daniel Marín, Commented Jun 9, 2017 at 11:52
Maybe you'll need to implement a custom media type formatter: stackoverflow.com/questions/14145097/… — Anderson Pimentel
– Anderson Pimentel, Commented Jun 9, 2017 at 12:03

Kyle Meenehan · Accepted Answer · 2017-06-09 11:19:38Z

0

You can use that format with JavaScript though:

var myDate = new Date("2017-02-19T00:00:00");

answered Jun 9, 2017 at 11:19

Kyle Meenehan

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1 Comment

Daniel Marín Over a year ago

I know. This is not an answer to my question. I dont want to parse the date from a string, I want to convert directly from DateTime.

Anderson Pimentel · Accepted Answer · 2017-06-09 11:40:28Z

0

If you change your Accept header on your request to application/json you get:

["2017-06-09T08:14:13.7729697-03:00"]

Try with a tool like Postman.

In angular, you can do something like:

var config = { headers:  {
        'Accept': 'application/json',
    }
};

$http.get("/api/values", config);

edited Jun 9, 2017 at 11:40

answered Jun 9, 2017 at 11:17

Anderson Pimentel

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7 Comments

Daniel Marín Over a year ago

Could you explain a little more how to change that header, please. I'm using Angular's $http.get to do the request.

Anderson Pimentel Over a year ago

It's kinda hard using a browser. IE defaults to JSON, but it downloads the file. FF and Chrome defaults to XML. Get Postman, then on Headers tab add a key Accept and a value application/json. Change it to application/xml and see how the output changes.

Daniel Marín Over a year ago

Nevermind, that was a stupid question. In Angular you can do it with headers: { 'Accept': 'application/json' }

Anderson Pimentel Over a year ago

Updated the answer with an angular example.

Daniel Marín Over a year ago

It does not work. Now in Postman I get this: [ "2017-02-19T00:00:00" ]. I need the Date object.

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