Using JSON.NET date format returned from a controller action

Question

In my MVC4 project I have a controller action as follows:

public ActionResult GetJson()
{
    var serialized = JsonConvert.SerializeObject(DateTime.Now);
    return Json(DateTime.Now, JsonRequestBehavior.AllowGet);
}

The response to the browser is in the old ASP.NET format:

"/Date(1358987787691)/"

However, I know that MVC4 uses json.net by default, and that json.net uses ISO8601 format for dates.

In the code above, the serialized variable contains (what I want):

"\"2013-01-24T13:39:12.7182079+13:00\""

Why is return Json(DateTime.Now) not (seemingly) using json.net?

I have also tried putting the following line in my global.asx:

var json = GlobalConfiguration.Configuration.Formatters.JsonFormatter;
json.UseDataContractJsonSerializer = false;

but to no avail.

Seems I've misunderstood the documentation - json.net is the default json formatter for web API only. — Craig Shearer
– Craig Shearer, Commented Jan 24, 2013 at 0:52
The answer seems to be here: james.newtonking.com/archive/2008/10/16/… — Craig Shearer
– Craig Shearer, Commented Jan 24, 2013 at 0:53

Ph0en1x · Accepted Answer · 2013-01-24 00:47:58Z

1

You could make some changes in controller factory and create your controller, which is inherited from standard controller, but used custom json formatter.

answered Jan 24, 2013 at 0:47

Ph0en1x

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