Kendo Grid doesn't display JSON Dates - asp.net-mvc

Question

I'm using a Kendo Grid, built with their MVC Helpers to display some remote JSON data.
Everything works fine except the date columns.
Here's my setup.
View:
#(Html.Kendo().Grid<TrainingDTO>().Name("grid_training")
.Columns(c => {
c.Bound(a => a.Id).Width(50);
c.Bound(a => a.Start).ClientTemplate("#= (Start == null) ? ' ' : kendo.toString(Start, 'dd-MM-yyyy') #");
c.Bound(a => a.End).Format("{0:dd/MM/yyyy HH:mm:ss}");
c.Bound(a => a.Description);
})
.Pageable()
.Scrollable().DataSource(ds => ds.Ajax().PageSize(5).Model(m => m.Id(p => p.Id)).Read(R => R.Action("GridData", "Home", new { providerId = Model.Id }).Type(HttpVerbs.Post)))
)
And the controller:
[HttpPost]
public JsonResult GridData([DataSourceRequest]DataSourceRequest request) {
var data = new Service().LoadSomeData().ToDataSourceResult(request, A => new {
Id = A.Id,
Start = A.Start,
End = A.End,
Description = A.Description
});
return Json(data, JsonRequestBehavior.AllowGet);
}
Which returns (in json)
{
"Data": [
{
"Id": 1,
"Start": "\/Date(1412031600000)\/",
"End": "\/Date(1415318400000)\/",
"Description": "test teste test"
}
],
"Total": 1,
"AggregateResults": null,
"Errors": null
}
The Start and End columns appear empty. These properties on the TrainingDTO POCO are DateTime Nullables (ie, DateTime?)
I've tried many options to format the data but to no avail.
Is there a way to print these JSON dates on the grid (without resorting to formatting them as strings on the controller) ?

Answer 1

I have had this problem before.
I assume you are looking to use UK date format rather than the default US format.
If you take off the formatting I expect you will see the dates formatted correctly.
As you appear to be using a flattened model (date's don't work correctly in complex viewmodels) then the simplest thing to do is add the culture file into your project and then set it to UK so that everything is picked up correctly.
so in your layout page put this after the kendo scripts:
<script src="/Scripts/kendo/{you version here}/cultures/kendo.culture.en-GB.min.js"></script>
<script type="text/javascript">
kendo.culture("en-GB");
</script>
If the culture files are not part of the project just go through the telerik upgrade and include them or just copy them into the project.