Handling dates with Asp.Net MVC and KnockoutJS

Question

I recently started working with KnockoutJs and quickly realized using the default Json(myModelWithADate) resulted in the default json encoding of \\/Date(

Answer 1

The better way to handle dates in knockoutjs is to use moment library and handle dates like boss. You can easily deal with dates like /Date(-62135578800000)/. No need to bother of how your serialize date in controller.

Approach 1 : Directly in view:

Lets say your knockout model gets such date in a observable called sentDate and now it has value /Date(-62135578800000)/. To bind it in view you can do :

Date: 

Approach 2 : In custom binding

ko.bindingHandlers.date = {
    init: function (element, valueAccessor, allBindingsAccessor, viewModel) {
        var jsonDate = valueAccessor();     
        var ret = moment(jsonDate).format('MM/DD/YYYY');
        element.innerHTML = ret;
    },
    update: function(element, valueAccessor, allBindingsAccessor, viewModel) {

    }
};

Usage same as you had said :

momentjs supports lots of date time formats and utility functions on dates.