Convert int timestamp to DateTime using Entity Framework

Question

I have a database where the columns are int datatypes. The column int-values corresponds to seconds since 1980-01-01 (MS-DOS timestamp).

Is it possible to convert these int-values using Entity Framework? If not that else to do? The conversion needs to be efficient.

I have tried the following SQL in my controller but I receive a JSON error from the client (Fiddler output: JSON=-1):

public JsonResult GetData()
{
     var model = entities.Database.ExecuteSqlCommand(
        @"SELECT TOP 10 
                 dateadd(S, [timestamp], '1980-01-01') [datetime_conv], 
                 [value] 
            FROM [Data_2696415_20] AS tabel");

     return Json(model, JsonRequestBehavior.AllowGet);
 }

I am using Entity Framework version 6.1.

Why not put a calculated column on the database table to have the datetime? — Mant101
– Mant101, Commented Aug 7, 2015 at 10:05
@Mant101 I am not very happy to rummage in the database, because the database belong to a purchased piece of software. The software properly needs the database to be untouched to work correctly. But yes, this will be my last option. I am only doing SELECT operations in the database. — VBMan
– VBMan, Commented Aug 7, 2015 at 10:10

Patrick · Accepted Answer · 2015-08-07 12:10:46Z

2

I would put an additional property on the entity class which gets the original int-value through a converter:

public partial class MyEntity
{
    public DateTime Date
    {
        get { return ConvertToDateTime(this.IntDate); }
    }
}

edited Aug 7, 2015 at 12:10

answered Aug 7, 2015 at 10:46

Patrick

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3 Comments

VBMan Over a year ago

I have not access to this.IntDate - I guess IntDate is my actual column name? If I just type this. I can only choose table names and not the attributes from the table.

Patrick Over a year ago

Which Entity Framework approach do you use? My proposal works when generating entity objects.

VBMan Over a year ago

I use Code First from Database - And it works! I will manually have to alter all the .cs-files in my model, adding the code-snippet above.

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