I have C# program where all DateTime
objects are DateTimeKind.UTC
. When saving the objects to the database it stores UTC as expected. However, when retrieving them, they are DateTimeKind.Unspecified
. Is there a way to tell Entity Framework (Code First) when creating DateTime
objects in C# to always use DateTimeKind.UTC
?
No, there's not. And it's actually DateTimeKind.Unspecified
.
However, if you are concerned about supporting multiple timezones, you should consider using DateTimeOffset. It's like a regular DateTime, except that it does not represent a "perspective" of time, it represents an absolute view, in which 3PM (UTC - 3) equals 4PM (UTC - 2). DateTimeOffset contains both the DateTime and the time zone and it's supported by both EntityFramework and SQL Server.
You can have your datacontext fix up all the relevant values as it goes. The following does so with a cache of properties for entity types, so as to avoid having to examine the type each time:
public class YourContext : DbContext
{
private static readonly List<PropertyInfo> EmptyPropsList = new List<PropertyInfo>();
private static readonly Hashtable PropsCache = new Hashtable(); // Spec promises safe for single-reader, multiple writer.
// Spec for Dictionary makes no such promise, and while
// it should be okay in this case, play it safe.
private static List<PropertyInfo> GetDateProperties(Type type)
{
List<PropertyInfo> list = new List<PropertyInfo>();
foreach(PropertyInfo prop in type.GetProperties())
{
Type valType = prop.PropertyType;
if(valType == typeof(DateTime) || valType == typeof(DateTime?))
list.Add(prop);
}
if(list.Count == 0)
return EmptyPropsList; // Don't waste memory on lots of empty lists.
list.TrimExcess();
return list;
}
private static void FixDates(object sender, ObjectMaterializedEventArgs evArg)
{
object entity = evArg.Entity;
if(entity != null)
{
Type eType = entity.GetType();
List<PropertyInfo> rules = (List<PropertyInfo>)PropsCache[eType];
if(rules == null)
lock(PropsCache)
PropsCache[eType] = rules = GetPropertyRules(eType); // Don't bother double-checking. Over-write is safe.
foreach(var rule in rules)
{
var info = rule.PropertyInfo;
object curVal = info.GetValue(entity);
if(curVal != null)
info.SetValue(entity, DateTime.SpecifyKind((DateTime)curVal, rule.Kind));
}
}
}
public YourContext()
{
((IObjectContextAdapter)this).ObjectContext.ObjectMaterialized += FixDates;
/* rest of constructor logic here */
}
/* rest of context class here */
}
This can also be combined with attributes so as to allow one to set the DateTimeKind
each property should have, by storing a set of rules about each property, rather than just the PropertyInfo
, and looking for the attribute in GetDateProperties
.