WCF REST Parameters

Question

I am writing a method in wcf rest service. The method is get method and the parameter is date. How i use parameters as the service consume in jquery.

If i use templateUri, it must be string. Example:

[WebGet(ResponseFormat = WebMessageFormat.Json, UriTemplate = "/GetProductionDay/{shiftDate}")]

Otherwise i can use DateTime like query string. Example:

[WebGet(ResponseFormat = WebMessageFormat.Json, UriTemplate = "/GetProductionDay?shiftDate={shiftDate}")]

Which one is suitable? Like this i have multiple parameters with int, datetime etc. So if i go with first one all things must be string. am i right? If i follow second one any problems in any type?

Just an observation - you might find it easier to use the new Web API rather than plain ol' WCF - see this SO question... http://stackoverflow.com/questions/9348639/wcf-vs-asp-net-web-api — Jay, Jan 31 '14 at 09:02
good thougfht actually i also thinking to it. But i am very new to mvc model and also no one to help me in my office — Akhil, Feb 01 '14 at 01:46

score 0 · Accepted Answer · edited May 23 '17 at 12:03

In cases like this I usually use UTC date representation (count of seconds/ms from 01.01.1970). On JavaScript side it could be get as

var utc = new Date().getTime() / 1000;

On server side it could be managed by following logic:

public static class DateTimeExtensions
{
    static readonly DateTime _unixEpoch = new DateTime(1970, 1, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, DateTimeKind.Utc);

    static readonly double _maxUnixSeconds = (DateTime.MaxValue - _unixEpoch).TotalSeconds;

    /// <summary>
    /// Converts .NET <c>DateTime</c> to Unix timestamp used in JavaScript
    /// </summary>
    /// <param name="dateTime">DateTime to convert</param>
    /// <returns>Unix timestamp in seconds</returns>
    public static long ToUnixTimestamp(this DateTime dateTime)
    {
        return (long)(dateTime - _unixEpoch).TotalSeconds;
    }


    public static DateTime FromUnixTimestamp(long seconds)
    {
        return _unixEpoch.AddSeconds(seconds);
    }

    public static DateTime? FromUnixTimestamp(string seconds)
    {
        long secondsNo;
        if(String.IsNullOrEmpty(seconds) || !long.TryParse(seconds, out secondsNo))
        {
           retun null;
        }

        return _unixEpoch.AddSeconds(secondsNo);
    }
}

Using this loigc you could convert all dates to simple numbers on client and use DateTime? on server side to correctly work with empty dates

[WebGet(ResponseFormat = WebMessageFormat.Json, UriTemplate = "/GetProductionDay/{shiftDate}")]
public int GetProductionDay (string shiftDate) 
{
    DateTime? dt = DateTimeExtensions.FromUnixTimestamp(shiftDate);  
    ....
    return res;
}

Some more info: How to convert a Unix timestamp to DateTime and vice versa?

good but if i need to pass a specific data without time how to use this. eg: '25/12/2013' — Akhil, Feb 01 '14 at 01:47
I can use this one and working. But my confusion is in date object. new Date() represent UTC , then how i give a specific date to send like my above comment — Akhil, Feb 04 '14 at 06:47

WCF REST Parameters

1 Answers1