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?
1
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
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It includes fractional seconds, which can help re-establish chronology
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It conforms to ISO 8601
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ISO 8601 has been well-established internationally for more than a decade
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ISO 8601 is endorsed by W3C, RFC3339, and XKCD
That being said, every date library ever written can understand “milliseconds since 1970”. So for easy portability, ThiefMaster is right.