System. TimeSpan

[Ivan A.]

Hi!


Why I can't serialize TimeSpan structure with XmlSerializer? This is what I
do:

using System;
using System.IO;
using System.Xml;
using System.Xml.Serialization;

namespace ConsoleApplication1
{
/// <summary>
/// Summary description for Class1.
/// </summary>
public class Class1
{
public TimeSpan span = new TimeSpan(1, 2, 3);
public DateTime time = new DateTime(1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1);

/// <summary>
/// The main entry point for the application.
/// </summary>
[STAThread]
static void Main(string[] args)
{
XmlSerializer serializer = new XmlSerializer(typeof(Class1));

XmlTextWriter xmlwriter = new XmlTextWriter("c:\\testser.xml",
System.Text.Encoding.Unicode);

Class1 c = new Class1();
c.span = new TimeSpan(3, 2, 1);
serializer.Serialize(xmlwriter, c);

xmlwriter.Close();

}
}
}


And this is what I get::

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-16" ?>
- <Class1 xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema"
xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
<span />
<time>0001-01-01T01:01:01.0010000+02:00</time>
</Class1>

 

[Ben Lucas]

Ivan,

It looks like the TimeSpan structure doesn't serialize as expected with the
XmlSerializer. However, there is a workaround. If you tell the serializer
to ignore the TimeSpan and include a property that provides access to the
ticks off the TimeSpan, you can serialize that. Look at the following
modification to your code:

using System;
using System.IO;
using System.Xml;
using System.Xml.Serialization;

namespace ConsoleApplication1
{
/// <summary>
/// Summary description for Class1.
/// </summary>
public class Class1
{
[XmlIgnore]
public TimeSpan span = new TimeSpan(1, 2, 3);
public DateTime time = new DateTime(1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1);

public long elapsedTicks
{
get { return span.Ticks; }
set { span = new TimeSpan(value); }
}

/// <summary>
/// The main entry point for the application.
/// </summary>
[STAThread]
static void Main(string[] args)
{
XmlSerializer serializer = new XmlSerializer(typeof(Class1));

XmlTextWriter xmlwriter = new XmlTextWriter("c:\\testser.xml",
System.Text.Encoding.Unicode);

Class1 c = new Class1();
c.span = new TimeSpan(3, 2, 1);
serializer.Serialize(xmlwriter, c);
xmlwriter.Flush();
xmlwriter.Close();

}
}
}

Using this, I had the following results from the program:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-16" ?>
- <Class1 xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema"
xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
<time>0001-01-01T01:01:01.0010000-08:00</time>
<elapsedTicks>109210000000</elapsedTicks>
</Class1>


Ben Lucas
Lead Developer
Solien Technology, Inc.
www.solien.com

 

[Ivan A. Gavrilyuk]

Thanks, I will use this! Looks like this is bug in FCL.

By the way can anyone explain me why .NET serializers store default property
values? Isn't it superflorous?

Ivan,

It looks like the TimeSpan structure doesn't serialize as expected with the
XmlSerializer. However, there is a workaround. If you tell the serializer
to ignore the TimeSpan and include a property that provides access to the
ticks off the TimeSpan, you can serialize that. Look at the following
modification to your code:

using System;
using System.IO;
using System.Xml;
using System.Xml.Serialization;

namespace ConsoleApplication1
{
/// <summary>
/// Summary description for Class1.
/// </summary>
public class Class1
{
[XmlIgnore]
public TimeSpan span = new TimeSpan(1, 2, 3);
public DateTime time = new DateTime(1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1);

public long elapsedTicks
{
get { return span.Ticks; }
set { span = new TimeSpan(value); }
}

/// <summary>
/// The main entry point for the application.
/// </summary>
[STAThread]
static void Main(string[] args)
{
XmlSerializer serializer = new XmlSerializer(typeof(Class1));

XmlTextWriter xmlwriter = new XmlTextWriter("c:\\testser.xml",
System.Text.Encoding.Unicode);

Class1 c = new Class1();
c.span = new TimeSpan(3, 2, 1);
serializer.Serialize(xmlwriter, c);
xmlwriter.Flush();
xmlwriter.Close();

}
}
}

Using this, I had the following results from the program:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-16" ?>
- <Class1 xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema"
xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
<time>0001-01-01T01:01:01.0010000-08:00</time>
<elapsedTicks>109210000000</elapsedTicks>
</Class1>


Ben Lucas
Lead Developer
Solien Technology, Inc.
www.solien.com

Hi!


Why I can't serialize TimeSpan structure with XmlSerializer? This is

what

I
do:

using System;
using System.IO;
using System.Xml;
using System.Xml.Serialization;

namespace ConsoleApplication1
{
/// <summary>
/// Summary description for Class1.
/// </summary>
public class Class1
{
public TimeSpan span = new TimeSpan(1, 2, 3);
public DateTime time = new DateTime(1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1);

/// <summary>
/// The main entry point for the application.
/// </summary>
[STAThread]
static void Main(string[] args)
{
XmlSerializer serializer = new XmlSerializer(typeof(Class1));

XmlTextWriter xmlwriter = new XmlTextWriter("c:\\testser.xml",
System.Text.Encoding.Unicode);

Class1 c = new Class1();
c.span = new TimeSpan(3, 2, 1);
serializer.Serialize(xmlwriter, c);

xmlwriter.Close();

}
}
}


And this is what I get::

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-16" ?>
- <Class1 xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema"
xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
<span />
<time>0001-01-01T01:01:01.0010000+02:00</time>
</Class1>