title: WebApi Json.NET custom date handling
body: <p>I have globally explicitly configured my MVC4 app to use the JSON.NET serializer . I know i have the choice of using the ISO standard dates or the old Microsoft date format when serializing dates. </p>
  
  <p>But how can i output my own custom dateTime format string ,like :"dd/MM/yyyy hh:mm".</p>
  
  <p>I could do this in MVC3 when plugging in Json.NET as the default serializer but cant seem to do it in MVC4 .</p>
  
  <p>So far in the application_start i have done :</p>
  
  <pre><code>  var settings =     GlobalConfiguration.Configuration.Formatters.JsonFormatter.SerializerSettings;            
          JsonSerializerSettings jSettings = new Newtonsoft.Json.JsonSerializerSettings()
          {
              Formatting = Formatting.Indented,
              DateTimeZoneHandling = DateTimeZoneHandling.Utc,
  
  
          };
          jSettings.Converters.Add(new MyDateTimeConvertor() );
          settings = jSettings;
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>and the custom converter i tried to impliment is like so :</p>
  
  <pre><code> public class MyDateTimeConvertor : DateTimeConverterBase
      {
          public override object ReadJson(JsonReader reader, Type objectType, object existingValue, JsonSerializer serializer)
          {
              return DateTime.Parse(reader.Value.ToString());
          }
  
          public override void WriteJson(JsonWriter writer, object value, JsonSerializer serializer)
          {
              writer.WriteValue(((DateTime)value).ToString("dd/MM/yyyy hh:mm"));
          }
      }
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>Anyhelp would be appreciated :)</p>