Specify serialization format of TimeSpans for one DTO

ServiceStack.Text
1

Hi,

We currently use the XSD duration format for TimeSpan and I was wondering if there is a way to use the .Net format for one DTO…something like adding an attribute to specify the format of the property.

I could handle the serialization myself by changing the property type from TimeSpan to string but I would like to know if there is a more elegant way to change the TimeSpan serialization format for a specific request.

Thanks

2

Or is it possible to add new fields when serializing (I don’t care about deserializing in this case).

For example, if I have the following DTO:

public class Hello
{
    public TimeSpan TS {get;set;}
}

Is there a way to automatically add a new property (at runtime/serialization) that would create this object

(json)

{
    "TS": "PT30S",
    "TS_net": "00:00:30"
}
3

You can customize TimeSpan serialization to use standard .net form by several ways:

  1. By adding ?jsconfig=tsh:sf to the end of query string. For example request query will look: yourdomain.com is available for purchase - Sedo.com

  2. Enable Standard Format serializing for TimeSpan directly in your service.

    public object Any(HelloRequest request)
{
     using (JsConfig.CreateScope("tsh:sf"))
     {
           return new Hello { TS = TimeSpan.FromSeconds(30)}.ToJson();
     }

    }

  3. Or by using your own custom TimeSpan serializer in service:

    public object Any(HelloRequest request)
{
   using (JsConfig.CreateScope(String.Empty) 
   {
      JsConfig<TimeSpan>.SerializeFn = time => time.ToString(@"hh\:mm\:ss");
      return new Hello { TS = TimeSpan.FromSeconds(30)}.ToJson();
   }
}

For more information you can read this article:

4

Option #1 will work for my use case.

Thanks!