How to ignore timezone of DateTime in .NET WCF client?

Question

WCF client is receiving a Date value from a Java web service where the date sent to the client in XML is :

2010-05-10+14:00

        

Answer 1

Try this

DateTime newDate = DateTime.SpecifyKind(oldDate, DateTimeKind.Unspecified);

Coding Best Practices Using DateTime in the .NET Framework

Related links

http://daveonsoftware.blogspot.com/2008/07/wcf-datetime-field-adjusted.html

http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/forums/en-US/wcf/thread/36ae825a-ffc6-4ac3-9981-c82692039d58

Best practices for DateTime serialization in .NET 3.5

Answer 2

Hi my improved and more universal solution

public static class TimeZoneMessageHelper
{
    public static Message RemoveTimeZone(this Message message)
    {
        try
        {
            using (XmlDictionaryReader messageBodyReader = message.GetReaderAtBodyContents())
            {
                XmlDocument xmlDocument = new XmlDocument();
                Message returnMessage = null;
                xmlDocument.Load(messageBodyReader);

                RemoveTimeZone(xmlDocument);

                StringBuilder stringBuilder = new StringBuilder();
                using(XmlWriter xmlWriter = XmlWriter.Create(stringBuilder))
                {
                    xmlDocument.Save(xmlWriter);
                }

                // do not dispose to early
                XmlReader resultMessageBodyReader = XmlReader.Create(new StringReader(stringBuilder.ToString()));

                returnMessage = Message.CreateMessage(message.Version, null, resultMessageBodyReader);
                returnMessage.Headers.CopyHeadersFrom(message);
                returnMessage.Properties.CopyProperties(message.Properties);

                return returnMessage;
            }
        }
    }

    private static void RemoveTimeZone(XmlNode xmlNode)
    {            
        if (xmlNode.ChildNodes.Count == 0)
        {
            RemoveTimeZoneCore(xmlNode);
        }
        else
        {
            foreach(XmlNode node in xmlNode.ChildNodes)
                RemoveTimeZone(node);
        }            
    }

    public static void RemoveTimeZoneCore(XmlNode xmlNode)
    {
        if (xmlNode != null)
        {
            if (Regex.IsMatch(xmlNode.InnerText, @"^\d\d\d\d-\d\d-\d\dT\d\d:\d\d:\d\d(\.\d\d)?(\+|-)\d\d:\d\d$", RegexOptions.Compiled))
            {
                xmlNode.InnerText = xmlNode.InnerText.Substring(0, xmlNode.InnerText.Length - 6);                    
            }                
        }            
    }
}

public class RemoveTimeZoneClientMessageFormatter : IClientMessageFormatter
{
    private readonly IClientMessageFormatter original;

    public RemoveTimeZoneClientMessageFormatter(IClientMessageFormatter original)
    {
        this.original = original;
    }

    #region Implementation of IClientMessageFormatter

    public Message SerializeRequest(MessageVersion messageVersion, object[] parameters)
    {
        return original.SerializeRequest(messageVersion, parameters).RemoveTimeZone();
    }

    public object DeserializeReply(Message message, object[] parameters)
    {
        return original.DeserializeReply(message.RemoveTimeZone() ?? message, parameters);
    }

    #endregion
}

public class RemoveTimeZoneDispatchMessageFormatter : IDispatchMessageFormatter
{
    private readonly IDispatchMessageFormatter original;

    public RemoveTimeZoneDispatchMessageFormatter(IDispatchMessageFormatter original)
    {
        this.original = original;
    }

    #region Implementation of IDispatchMessageFormatter

    public void DeserializeRequest(Message message, object[] parameters)
    {            
        original.DeserializeRequest(message.RemoveTimeZone() ?? message, parameters);
    }  

    public Message SerializeReply(MessageVersion messageVersion, object[] parameters, object result)
    {
        return original.SerializeReply(messageVersion, parameters, result).RemoveTimeZone();
    }

    #endregion
}

public class RemoveTimeZoneEndpointBehavior : IEndpointBehavior
{

    #region IEndpointBehavior Members
    public void AddBindingParameters(ServiceEndpoint endpoint, BindingParameterCollection bindingParameters)
    {
    }

    public void ApplyClientBehavior(ServiceEndpoint endpoint, ClientRuntime clientRuntime)
    {            
        foreach (OperationDescription operation in endpoint.Contract.Operations)
        {
            operation.Behaviors.Add(new RemoveTimeZoneOperationBehavior());
        }
    }

    public void ApplyDispatchBehavior(ServiceEndpoint endpoint, EndpointDispatcher endpointDispatcher)
    {
        foreach(OperationDescription operation in endpoint.Contract.Operations)
        {
            operation.Behaviors.Add(new RemoveTimeZoneOperationBehavior());
        }
    }

    public void Validate(ServiceEndpoint endpoint)
    {
    }
    #endregion
}

public class RemoveTimeZoneOperationBehavior : IOperationBehavior
{

    public void AddBindingParameters(OperationDescription description, BindingParameterCollection bindingParameters)
    {
    }

    public void ApplyClientBehavior(OperationDescription description, ClientOperation proxy)
    {            
        proxy.Formatter = new RemoveTimeZoneClientMessageFormatter(proxy.Formatter);
    }

    public void ApplyDispatchBehavior(OperationDescription description, DispatchOperation operation)
    {
        operation.Formatter = new RemoveTimeZoneDispatchMessageFormatter(operation.Formatter);
    }

    public void Validate(OperationDescription description)
    {
    }
}

public class RemoveTimeZoneExtensionElement : BehaviorExtensionElement
{
    public override Type BehaviorType
    {
        get
        {
            return typeof(RemoveTimeZoneEndpointBehavior);
        }
    }

    protected override object CreateBehavior()
    {
        return new RemoveTimeZoneEndpointBehavior();
    }
}\