Passing UTC DateTime to Web API HttpGet Method results in local time

Question

I\'m trying to pass a UTC date as a query string parameter to a Web API method. The URL looks like

/api/order?endDate=2014-04-01T00:00:00Z&zoneId=4
         


        

Answer 1

So, for those of you who do not wish to override string-to-date conversion in your entire application, and also don't want to have to remember to modify every method that takes a date parameter, here's how you do it for a Web API project.

Ultimately, the general instructions come from here:

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/aspnet/web-api/overview/formats-and-model-binding/parameter-binding-in-aspnet-web-api#model-binders

Here's the specialized instructions for this case:

1. In your "WebApiConfig" class, add the following:

       var provider = new SimpleModelBinderProvider(typeof(DateTime),new UtcDateTimeModelBinder());
       config.Services.Insert(typeof(ModelBinderProvider), 0, provider);
   

2. Create a new class called UtcDateTimeModelBinder:

   public class UtcDateTimeModelBinder : IModelBinder
   {
       public bool BindModel(HttpActionContext actionContext,
           ModelBindingContext bindingContext)
       {
           if (bindingContext.ModelType != typeof(DateTime)) return false;
   
           var val = bindingContext.ValueProvider.GetValue(bindingContext.ModelName);
           if (val == null)
           {
               return false;
           }
   
           var key = val.RawValue as string;
           if (key == null)
           {
               bindingContext.ModelState.AddModelError(bindingContext.ModelName,
                   "Wrong value type");
               return false;
           }
   
           DateTime result;
           if (DateTime.TryParse(key, out result))
           {
               bindingContext.Model = result.ToUniversalTime();
               return true;
           }
   
           bindingContext.ModelState.AddModelError(bindingContext.ModelName,
               "Cannot convert value to Utc DateTime");
           return false;
       }
   }