How to return json date from MVC4 controller in ISO format - asp.net-mvc

Question

I tried tro return date in ISO format using Json.Net from ASP.NET MVC4 controller
public JsonResult Sales() {
var saleList = new List<Sale>();
...
var str = JsonConvert.SerializeObject(saleList);
return Json(str, JsonRequestBehavior.AllowGet);
}
public class Sale
{
public DateTime saledate { get; set; }
...
}
But it returns whole object json notation as single string.
How to return date in ISO format as json object ?

Answer 1

You can do it with ServiceStack JSON serializer but first you have to integrate it to ASP.NET MVC.
After installing the package, configure DateTime serialization in application start:
JsConfig.DateHandler = JsonDateHandler.ISO8601;
Create an ActionResult type for JSON content:
public class CustomJsonResult : ActionResult
{
private readonly object _data;
private readonly string _content;
private readonly Encoding _encoding;
public CustomJsonResult(object data) : this(data, null, null) { }
public CustomJsonResult(object data, string content) : this(data, content, null) { }
public CustomJsonResult(object data, Encoding encoding) : this(data, null, encoding) { }
public CustomJsonResult(object data, string content, Encoding encoding)
{
_data = data;
_content = content;
_encoding = encoding;
}
public override void ExecuteResult(ControllerContext context)
{
if (context == null)
{
throw new ArgumentNullException("context");
}
HttpResponseBase response = context.HttpContext.Response;
response.ContentType = string.IsNullOrEmpty(_content) ? "application/json" : _content;
if (_encoding != null)
{
response.ContentEncoding = _encoding;
}
response.Write(JsonSerializer.SerializeToString(_data));
}
}
Then you can add these methods to a base controller:
protected CustomJsonResult CustomJson(object data)
{
return new CustomJsonResult(data);
}
protected CustomJsonResult CustomJson(object data, string content)
{
return new CustomJsonResult(data, content);
}
protected CustomJsonResult CustomJson(object data, Encoding encoding)
{
return new CustomJsonResult(data, encoding);
}
protected CustomJsonResult CustomJson(object data, string content, Encoding encoding)
{
return new CustomJsonResult(data, content, encoding);
}
At last you can return the result like this:
return CustomJson(saleList);

Answer 2

You can set settings when using an overload to SerializeObject that takes an JsonSerializerSettings parameter:
public static string SerializeObject(
Object value,
JsonSerializerSettings settings
)
The JsonSerializerSettings have a property called DateFormatHandlingused to distinguish between Microsoft Format and ISO format.
You could also use a custom converter in JSON.NET. Custom Converters can be applied using the CustomConverter attribute.
An example can be found in the JSON.NET documentation: http://james.newtonking.com/json/help/index.html
I would prefer the first possibility.