The "right" JSON date format
The "right" JSON date format
Question
I've seen so many different standards for the JSON date format:
"\"\\/Date(1335205592410)\\/\"" .NET JavaScriptSerializer
"\"\\/Date(1335205592410-0500)\\/\"" .NET DataContractJsonSerializer
"2012-04-23T18:25:43.511Z" JavaScript built-in JSON object
"2012-04-21T18:25:43-05:00" ISO 8601
Which one is the right one? Or best? Is there any sort of standard on this?
Accepted Answer
JSON itself does not specify how dates should be represented, but JavaScript does.
You should use the format emitted by Date's toJSON method:
2012-04-23T18:25:43.511Z
Here's why:
It's human readable but also succinct
It sorts correctly
It includes fractional seconds, which can help re-establish chronology
It conforms to ISO 8601
ISO 8601 has been well-established internationally for more than a decade
That being said, every date library ever written can understand "milliseconds since 1970". So for easy portability, ThiefMaster is right.
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JSON does not know anything about dates. What .NET does is a non-standard hack/extension.
I would use a format that can be easily converted to a Date object in JavaScript, i.e. one that can be passed to new Date(...). The easiest and probably most portable format is the timestamp containing milliseconds since 1970.
There is no right format; The JSON specification does not specify a format for exchanging dates which is why there are so many different ways to do it.
The best format is arguably a date represented in ISO 8601 format (see Wikipedia); it is a well known and widely used format and can be handled across many different languages, making it very well suited for interoperability. If you have control over the generated json, for example, you provide data to other systems in json format, choosing 8601 as the date interchange format is a good choice.
If you do not have control over the generated json, for example, you are the consumer of json from several different existing systems, the best way of handling this is to have a date parsing utility function to handle the different formats expected.
From RFC 7493 (The I-JSON Message Format ):
I-JSON stands for either Internet JSON or Interoperable JSON, depending on who you ask.
Protocols often contain data items that are designed to contain timestamps or time durations. It is RECOMMENDED that all such data items be expressed as string values in ISO 8601 format, as specified in RFC 3339, with the additional restrictions that uppercase rather than lowercase letters be used, that the timezone be included not defaulted, and that optional trailing seconds be included even when their value is "00". It is also RECOMMENDED that all data items containing time durations conform to the "duration" production in Appendix A of RFC 3339, with the same additional restrictions.
Just for reference I've seen this format used:
Date.UTC(2017,2,22)
It works with JSONP which is supported by the $.getJSON() function. Not sure I would go so far as to recommend this approach... just throwing it out there as a possibility because people are doing it this way.
FWIW: Never use seconds since epoch in a communication protocol, nor milliseconds since epoch, because these are fraught with danger thanks to the randomized implementation of leap seconds (you have no idea whether sender and receiver both properly implement UTC leap seconds).
Kind of a pet hate, but many people believe that UTC is just the new name for GMT -- wrong! If your system does not implement leap seconds then you are using GMT (often called UTC despite being incorrect). If you do fully implement leap seconds you really are using UTC. Future leap seconds cannot be known; they get published by the IERS as necessary and require constant updates. If you are running a system that attempts to implement leap seconds but contains and out-of-date reference table (more common than you might think) then you have neither GMT, nor UTC, you have a wonky system pretending to be UTC.
These date counters are only compatible when expressed in a broken down format (y, m, d, etc). They are NEVER compatible in an epoch format. Keep that in mind.
When in doubt simply go to the javascript web console of a modern browser by pressing F12 (Ctrl+Shift+K in Firefox) and write the following:
new Date().toISOString()
Will output:
"2019-07-04T13:33:03.969Z"
Ta-da!!