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Quick Tip – Converting JSON Serialized .NET DateTime to JavaScript Date

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1 Dec 2011CPOL 43K  
Converting JSON serialized .NET DateTime to JavaScript Date.

Quick Tip – Converting JSON Serialized .NET DateTime to JavaScript Date

When you are using the controller JSON method in ASP.NET MVC or scriptable WCF services, you sometimes have to serialize a .NET DateTime property. DataContractJsonSerializer will serialize it into the the following format:

/Date(1235398665390)/ 

This format indicates to the client side parsers that the data fragment that was sent is a date representation. But how can you convert it to a JavaScript Date object?

There are a few methods:

  • “Brutal Force”: Extract the number using a Regular Expression or substring functions and pass it to the Date object which gets the time in milliseconds in its constructor:
  • JavaScript
    var date = new Date(1235398665390);
  • Server-side approach: Send to the client side not a .NET DateTime but the total milliseconds and then use the same constructor from the previous bullet. You should pay attention that JavaScript’s base date is 1/1/1970. The following code can help:
  • JavaScript
    var baseDate = new DateTime(1970, 1, 1); 
    var currentDate = DateTime.Now.ToUniversalTime(); 
    TimeSpan ts = new TimeSpan(dcurrentDate.Ticks - baseDate.Ticks); 
    return ts.TotalMilliseconds;
  • The eval way: On the client side, use the eval function to evaluate and create the Date object:
  • JavaScript
    var date = eval("new " + dateFromTheServer.slice(1, -1));

    Where dateFromTheServer is in the format which was presented at the top of the post.

There are probably other ways which can help you. What is your way?

License

This article, along with any associated source code and files, is licensed under The Code Project Open License (CPOL)