Custom DateTime XML Serialization

Question

I would like to be able to Serialize a DateTime with a specific Time Zone that is not the server, nor is it client time. Basically, any time zone. Is it possible to override

Answer 1

Don't serialize the DateTimeOffset directly, but serialize a string instead:

// Don't serialize this one
[System.Xml.Serialization.XmlIgnore]
public System.DateTimeOffset metadataDateTime
{
    get { ... }
    set { ... }
}


// Serialize this one instead
[System.Xml.Serialization.XmlAttribute("metadataDateTime")]
public string metadataDateTimeXml
{
    get { /* format metadataDateTime to custom format */ }
    set { /* parse metadataDateTime from custom format */ }
}

Answer 2

This was discussed 2 days ago. Does this do it for you?

C# serializing Class to XML where one of class properties is DateTime. How to make this property in ISO format?

Answer 3

You may want to use DateTimeOffset instead of a pure DateTime object.