Custom JavaScriptConverter for DateTime?

Question

I have an object, it has a DateTime property... I want to pass that object from an .ashx handler back to a webpage via AJAX/JSON... I don\'t want to use 3rd party controls..

Answer 1

Here's an enhancement for the accepted answer.

Using generics, passing a type and using reflection to determine the datetime properties.

public class ExtendedJavaScriptConverter<T> : JavaScriptConverter where T : new()
{
    private const string _dateFormat = "dd/MM/yyyy";

    public override IEnumerable<Type> SupportedTypes
    {
        get
        {
            return new[] { typeof(T) };
        }
    }

    public override object Deserialize(IDictionary<string, object> dictionary, Type type, JavaScriptSerializer serializer)
    {
        T p = new T();

        var props = typeof(T).GetProperties();

        foreach (string key in dictionary.Keys)
        {
            var prop = props.Where(t => t.Name == key).FirstOrDefault();
            if (prop != null)
            {
                if (prop.PropertyType == typeof(DateTime))
                {
                    prop.SetValue(p, DateTime.ParseExact(dictionary[key] as string, _dateFormat, DateTimeFormatInfo.InvariantInfo), null);

                }
                else
                {
                    prop.SetValue(p, dictionary[key], null);
                }
            }
        }                  

        return p;
    }      

    public override IDictionary<string, object> Serialize(object obj, JavaScriptSerializer serializer)
    {
        T p = (T)obj;
        IDictionary<string, object> serialized = new Dictionary<string, object>();

        foreach (PropertyInfo pi in typeof(T).GetProperties())
        {
            if (pi.PropertyType == typeof(DateTime))
            {
                serialized[pi.Name] = ((DateTime)pi.GetValue(p, null)).ToString(_dateFormat);
            }
            else
            {
                serialized[pi.Name] = pi.GetValue(p, null);
            }

        }

        return serialized;
    }

    public static JavaScriptSerializer GetSerializer() 
    {
        JavaScriptSerializer serializer = new JavaScriptSerializer();
        serializer.RegisterConverters(new[] { new ExtendedJavaScriptConverter<T>() });

        return serializer;
    }
}

Usage is simple:

 JavaScriptSerializer serialiser = ExtendedJavaScriptConverter<Task>.GetSerializer();

Hope that helps someone.

Answer 2

Actually there is an ugly way, create a JavaScriptConverter for the container (Person/Article/Whatever) class

Container:

public class Article
{
    public int Id { get; set; }
    public string Title { get; set; }
    public DateTime Date { get; set; }
}

Converter:

public class ArticleJavaScriptConverter : JavaScriptConverter
{
    public override IEnumerable<Type> SupportedTypes
    {
        get { return new Type[] { typeof(Article) }; }
    }

    public override object Deserialize(
        IDictionary<string, object> dictionary, 
        Type type, JavaScriptSerializer serializer)
    {
        DateTime date = 
            DateTime.ParseExact(dictionary["date"] as string, "s", null);

        return
            new Article()
            {
                Id = (int)dictionary["id"],
                Title = dictionary["title"] as string,
                Date = date
            };
    }

    public override IDictionary<string, object> Serialize(
        object obj, JavaScriptSerializer serializer)
    {
        var article = obj as Article;
        var result = new Dictionary<string,object>();

        if (article != null)
        {
            this.SerializeInternal(article, result);
        }

        return result;
    }

    private void SerializeInternal(
        Article article, IDictionary<string, object> result)
    {
        result.Add("id", article.Id);
        result.Add("title", article.Title);
        result.Add("date", article.Date.ToString("s"));
    }
}

Happily ever after...

var serializer = new JavaScriptSerializer();

serializer.RegisterConverters(
    new JavaScriptConverter[] {
        new ArticleJavaScriptConverter() 
    });

var expected = new Article()
{
    Id = 3,
    Title = "test",
    Date = DateTime.Now
};


// {"id":3,"title":"test","date":"2009-12-02T05:12:00"}
var json = serializer.Serialize(article);

var actual = serializer.Deserialize<Article>(json);

Assert.AreEqual(expected, actual);

Answer 3

There is actually a nice clean way to do this without knowing the wrapper type or even needing a wrapper object.

You use JavaScriptConverter to convert your object to a Uri that also implements IDictionary. JavaScriptSerializer will serialize this as a string.

This hack is described here: Custom DateTime JSON Format for .NET JavaScriptSerializer

Answer 4

link text This example works

JavaScriptSerializer serializer = new JavaScriptSerializer();

DateTime dt = DateTime.Now;
DateTime dt1 = dt;

string jsonDateNow = serializer.Serialize(dt1);