Can You Specify Format for Xmlserialization of a Datetime

Can you specify format for XmlSerialization of a datetime?

No, there isn't. If it's in that format, then it's not a valid dateTime as far as XML Schema is concerned.

The best you can do is as follows:

[XmlIgnore]
public DateTime DoNotSerialize {get;set;}

public string ProxyDateTime {
    get {return DoNotSerialize.ToString("yyyyMMdd");}
    set {DoNotSerialize = DateTime.Parse(value);}
}

Force XmlSerializer to serialize DateTime as 'YYYY-MM-DD hh:mm:ss'

In the past, I've done the following to control datetime serialization:

• Ignore the DateTime property.
• Create a dummy string property that serializes/deserializes the way I want

Here is an example:

public class SomeClass
{
    [XmlIgnore]
    public DateTime SomeDate { get; set; }

    [XmlElement("SomeDate")]
    public string SomeDateString
    {
        get { return this.SomeDate.ToString("yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss"); }
        set { this.SomeDate = DateTime.Parse(value); }
    }
}

How to serialize Xml Date only from DateTime in C#

You should use the XmlElementAttribute.DataType property and specify date.

public class Birthdays
{
  [XmlElement(DataType="date")]
  public DateTime DateOfBirth {get;set;}
  public string Name {get;set;}
}

Using this outputs

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-16"?>
<Birthdays xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema">
  <DateOfBirth>2013-11-14</DateOfBirth>
  <Name>John Smith</Name>
</Birthdays> 

Another option is to use a string property just for serialization (backed by a DateTime property you use), as at Force XmlSerializer to serialize DateTime as 'YYYY-MM-DD hh:mm:ss' (this is needed for DataContractSerializer, where the xs:date type is not as well-supported)

XML Serialization of a ListDateTime using a custom datetime format

There is a mistake on the code you posted.

It is reasonable that nothing serializes. The DaysDt object is not serialized (because you set the XmlIgnore attribute) and you never assign any values on the Days object. I presume you may have mixed up getting/setting with adding items to a list.

When you execute:

calendar.DaysDt.Add(DateTime.Now);

The setter is not called!
So that leaves you with an empty Days object.

Try this code for example and see if it works:

Calendar calendar = new Calendar();
List<DateTime> lst = new List<DateTime>();
lst.Add(DateTime.Now);
lst.Add(DateTime.Now.AddDays(5));
lst.Add(DateTime.Now.AddDays(10));
calendar.DaysDt = lst;

Serialize DateTime property to XML in C#

Probably the simplest way to achieve this is to implement the IXmlSerializable interface on your class instead. Something along the following lines

public class Loan : IXmlSerializable
{
    public void WriteXml(XmlWriter writer)
    {
        if(dateIn.HasValue)
        {
            writer.WriteElementString("dateIn", dateIn.Value.ToString());
        }
    }
}

On the read you'll need to read the Element name, if it's dateIn set that, otherwise set the appropriate value. Basically checking to see if it exists in the XML.

Controlling DateTime format for XML responses in Web API

You shouldn't specify your own format - you should instead tell the XML serializer that the value is just meant to be a date, using:

[XmlElement(DataType="date")]

Then force the use of XML serializer with config.Formatters.XmlFormatter.UseXmlSerializer = true and you should be fine. That way you'll be using the standard (ISO-8601) format for dates, which is yyyy-MM-dd... which means standard tools (e.g. LINQ to XML) will be able to parse the XML appropriately.

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