Why does Json.NET DeserializeObject change the timezone to local time?

Question

I'm using json.net to deserialize a DateTimeOffset, but it is ignoring the specified timezone and converting the datetime to the local offset. For example, given

var content = @"{""startDateTime"":""2012-07-19T14:30:00+09:30""}";

When deserialised using:

var jsonSerializerSettings = new JsonSerializerSettings() { DateFormatHandling = DateFormatHandling.IsoDateFormat, DateParseHandling = DateParseHandling.DateTimeOffset, DateTimeZoneHandling = DateTimeZoneHandling.RoundtripKind };
var obj = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject(content, jsonSerializerSettings);

The obj will contain a property containing a DateTimeOffset but the value will be 2012-07-19T15:30:00+10:30 i.e. converted to the local timezone instead of preserving the original timezone.

Is there a way to get the value to be parsed as expected so that the resulting DateTimeOffset property will match the supplied value?

Answer 1

It seems to be ignoring DateParseHandling.DateTimeOffset and is using DateParseHandling.DateTime. I would log an issue here: https://github.com/JamesNK/Newtonsoft.Json

Answer 2

If you're using .NET WebApi you can add the following to the WebApiConfig.cs file to handle this globally in your application.

config.Formatters.JsonFormatter.SerializerSettings.DateTimeZoneHandling = 
    Newtonsoft.Json.DateTimeZoneHandling.Local;

This will specifically tell the JsonFormatter to include and understand the local time zone information when serializing and deserializing a date.

Answer 3

I'm not sure regarding which version did you use, because at some point of time we had the same problem, then update fixed it...

Your code works wrong for me also, but if I create class like

public class A
{
    public DateTimeOffset startDateTime;
}

and call

var obj = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<A>(content, jsonSerializerSettings);

everything works as expected. Yes, it's bug for sure, yes, I don't know how to get result exactly as YOU want, but probably, it will help for someone else.

Answer 4

Try using this:

microsoftDateFormatSettings = new JsonSerializerSettings
{
    DateFormatHandling = DateFormatHandling.MicrosoftDateFormat,
    DateTimeZoneHandling = DateTimeZoneHandling.Local
};
var items = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<List<lstObject>>(jsonString, microsoftDateFormatSettings);

I don't know if it will work in all cases but for me it did. You can try some other values for DateTimeZoneHandling or search for more options on Google.

Answer 5

This works for me, a timezone is preserved

var jss = new JsonSerializerSettings
    {
         DateFormatHandling = DateFormatHandling.IsoDateFormat,
         DateTimeZoneHandling = DateTimeZoneHandling.Local, 
         DateParseHandling = DateParseHandling.DateTimeOffset
    };
var responseObj = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<dynamic>(body, jss);
return responseObj.Select(s => new {
                    id = s["id"].Value<int>(),
                    date = s["date"].Value<DateTimeOffset>().DateTime,
                });

A JSON body is something like this

[
    {
        "id": 211,
        "date": "2017-10-22T12:00:00+03:00",
        "status": 1
    },
    {
        "id": 212,
        "date": "2017-10-28T12:00:00+03:00",
        "status": 1
    }
]

Answer 6

To use these settings in serializer, type:

var serializerSettings = new JsonSerializerSettings
            {
                DateFormatHandling = DateFormatHandling.MicrosoftDateFormat,
                DateTimeZoneHandling = DateTimeZoneHandling.Local
            };
            var serializer = JsonSerializer.Create(serializerSettings);

Answer 7

As a simple way, you can Convert Date to Ticks for serializing and convert it from Ticks to Date for deserializing:

Serializing:

DateTime date = new DateTime();
ticks = date.Ticks

Deserializing"

Datetime = new Datetime(ticks);