CODEWITHSUNDEEP
asp.netjsonasp.net-mvc
Shaul Behr
Shaul Behr

Reputation: 38033

Why are different endpoints in the same API returning different date formats?

I have two different API endpoints. Both controllers inherit ApiController. Both return a single object, each of which has a field of type DateTime.

API 1:

[Route("OtherThings/{otherThingId:guid}/FirstThing", Name = "GetFirstThing")]
[HttpGet]
[ResponseType(typeof(Response1))]
public IHttpActionResult GetFirstThing(Guid otherThingId, [FromUri] DateTime? modifiedDate = null)
{
    var things = GetThings(otherThingId, modifiedDate);
    if (!things.Any())
    {
        return NotFound();
    }

    return Ok(new Response1(things.First()));
}

where Response1 is defined as:

public class ReadingProgressResponse
{
    public DateTime DateTime { get; set; }
    // and other properties
}

sample response:

{
    "dateTime": "2016-09-28T14:30:26"
}

API 2

[HttpGet]
[Route("{someId:guid}", Name = "SomeName")]
[ResponseType(typeof (Response2))]
public IHttpActionResult GetResponse2(Guid someId)
{
    var data = GetSomeData(someId);

    return Ok(new Response2(data));
}

where Response2 is defined as:

public class ScreenSessionResponse
{
    public DateTime ExpirationTime { get; set; }
    // and other fields
}

Sample response:

{
    "expirationTime": "2016-09-28T14:48:09Z"
}

Notice that API 1 does not have a "Z" at the end of the date, but API 2 does.

Why? Do I have any control over how the response gets formatted?

Upvotes: 1

Views: 99

Answers (1)

user449689
user449689

Reputation: 3154

Yes, you have control on how dates are formatted.

Try this code in the OnStart method of your global.asax:

// Convert all dates to UTC
var json = GlobalConfiguration.Configuration.Formatters.JsonFormatter;
json.SerializerSettings.DateTimeZoneHandling = Newtonsoft.Json.DateTimeZoneHandling.Utc;

For more info, have a look here

Upvotes: 1

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