Question

I am using JQUERY ajax to call an MVC method:

JQUERY:

$.ajax({
            type: "POST",
            contentType: "application/json; charset=utf-8",
            url: "/Home/GetApplication/" + id,
            dataType: "json",
            data: '',
            timeout: 10000,
            success: function (obj) {

                $('#Name').val(obj.Name);
                $('#ApplicationIdentifier').val(obj.ApplicationIdentifier);
                $('#Frequency').val(obj.FrequencyValue);
                var d = new Date(parseInt(obj.BaseDate.substr(6)));
                $('#BaseDate').val(d.getMonth() + '/' + d.getDay() + '/' + d.getFullYear());

            },
            error: function () {
                return;
            }
        });

MVC Method:

[HttpPost]
        public ActionResult GetApplication(int id)
        {
            return Json(new Application
                            {
                                Name = "Testing",
                                ApplicationIdentifier = "123ABC",
                                FrequencyValue = 1,
                                FrequencyType = 1,
                                BaseDate = DateTime.Now
                            });
        }

All of this works fine except the date appearing on my form is 4/5/2011 and it should be 5/13/2011. Am I missing something here? Thanks.

Answer 1

Working with dates and times between JavaScript and .NET can be difficult, and we usually handle this in our applications by always making the interaction in Unix Time:

[HttpPost]
public ActionResult GetApplication(int id)
{
    DateTime unixTime = new DateTime(1970, 1, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0);

    return Json(new Application
        {
            Name = "Testing",
            ApplicationIdentifier = "123ABC",
            FrequencyValue = 1,
            FrequencyType = 1,
            BaseDate = (DateTime.Now - unixTime).TotalMilliseconds
         });
}

Now that your JavaScript application has the Unix Time, it can easily be converted to a Date (you are also formatting your date string incorrectly):

$.ajax({
    type: "POST",
    contentType: "application/json; charset=utf-8",
    url: "/Home/GetApplication/" + id,
    dataType: "json",
    data: '',
    timeout: 10000,
    success: function (obj) {
        var d = new Date(obj.BaseDate);
        var dateString = (d.getMonth() + 1) + '/' + d.getDate() + '/' + d.getFullYear();

        $('#Name').val(obj.Name);
        $('#ApplicationIdentifier').val(obj.ApplicationIdentifier);
        $('#Frequency').val(obj.FrequencyValue);
        $('#BaseDate').val(dateString);
    },
    error: function () {
        return;
    }
});

Also, I wouldn’t return your EF entity to the front-end, only give it what it really needs. By using a dynamic object, your types can be inferred here, and BaseDate becomes whatever type you give it:

[HttpPost]
public ActionResult GetApplication(int id)
{
    DateTime unixTime = new DateTime(1970, 1, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0);

    return Json(new { 
            Name = "Testing",
            ApplicationIdentifier = "123ABC",
            FrequencyValue = 1,
            BaseDate = (DateTime.Now - unixTime).TotalMilliseconds
         });
}