EF Core DateTime Utc kind

<Custom>DbContext.cs

public class CustomDbContext : DbContext
{
    // ...
    
    protected override void OnConfiguring(DbContextOptionsBuilder options)
    {
        // Replace default materializer source to custom, to convert DateTimes
        options.ReplaceService<IEntityMaterializerSource, DateTimeKindEntityMaterializerSource>();

        base.OnConfiguring(options);
    }
}

DateTimeKindEntityMaterializerSource.cs

public class DateTimeKindEntityMaterializerSource : EntityMaterializerSource
{
    private static readonly MethodInfo _normalizeMethod =
        typeof(DateTimeKindMapper).GetTypeInfo().GetMethod(nameof(DateTimeKindMapper.Normalize));

    private static readonly MethodInfo _normalizeNullableMethod =
        typeof(DateTimeKindMapper).GetTypeInfo().GetMethod(nameof(DateTimeKindMapper.NormalizeNullable));

    private static readonly MethodInfo _normalizeObjectMethod =
        typeof(DateTimeKindMapper).GetTypeInfo().GetMethod(nameof(DateTimeKindMapper.NormalizeObject));

    public override Expression CreateReadValueExpression(Expression valueBuffer, Type type, int index, IProperty property = null)
    {
        if (type == typeof(DateTime))
        {
            return Expression.Call(
                _normalizeMethod,
                base.CreateReadValueExpression(valueBuffer, type, index, property));
        }

        if (type == typeof(DateTime?))
        {
            return Expression.Call(
                _normalizeNullableMethod,
                base.CreateReadValueExpression(valueBuffer, type, index, property));
        }

        return base.CreateReadValueExpression(valueBuffer, type, index, property);
    }

    public override Expression CreateReadValueCallExpression(Expression valueBuffer, int index)
    {
        var readValueCallExpression = base.CreateReadValueCallExpression(valueBuffer, index);
        if (readValueCallExpression.Type == typeof(DateTime))
        {
            return Expression.Call(
                _normalizeMethod,
                readValueCallExpression);
        }

        if (readValueCallExpression.Type == typeof(DateTime?))
        {
            return Expression.Call(
                _normalizeNullableMethod,
                readValueCallExpression);
        }

        if (readValueCallExpression.Type == typeof(object))
        {
            return Expression.Call(
                _normalizeObjectMethod,
                readValueCallExpression);
        }

        return readValueCallExpression;
    }
}

DateTimeKindMapper.cs

public class DateTimeKindMapper
{
    public static DateTime Normalize(DateTime value)
        => DateTime.SpecifyKind(value, DateTimeKind.Utc);

    public static DateTime? NormalizeNullable(DateTime? value)
        => value.HasValue ? DateTime.SpecifyKind(value.Value, DateTimeKind.Utc) : (DateTime?)null;

    public static object NormalizeObject(object value)
        => value is DateTime dateTime ? Normalize(dateTime) : value;
}

seems CreateReadValueExpression changed the type of the last param to IPropertyBase and CreateReadValueCallExpression was marked Obsolete. the version in my fork seems to work fine with those changes.

thanks for this!

also note, if you're using UseInMemoryDatabase for testing, it'll barf on this.

My solution was to move the ReplaceService call to inside the AddDbContext options in my services setup for my web project like so:

services.AddDbContext<MyDatabaseContext>(options =>
{
    options.UseSqlServer(connectionString);
    options.ReplaceService<IEntityMaterializerSource, DateTimeKindEntityMaterializerSource>();
});

Can you make an example using .Net 6?

This is the solution I'm using for EFCore in .NET8. It uses mementos for each type to minimise the overhead of reflection for each query.

/// <summary>
///       Intercepts EF Core materialisation and forces all DateTime properties to DateTimeKind.Utc.
///       Uses cached, compiled delegates for maximum performance.
/// </summary>
public class DateTimeKindUtcInterceptor : IMaterializationInterceptor
{
	private static readonly ConcurrentDictionary<Type, Action<object>[]> _materialisers = [];

	/// <inheritdoc/>
	public object InitializedInstance(MaterializationInterceptionData materialisationData, object entity)
	{
		var entityType = entity.GetType();
		var actions = _materialisers.GetOrAdd(entityType, CreateMaterialisersForType);

		foreach (var action in actions)
		{
			action(entity);
		}

		return entity;
	}

	/// <summary>
	///   Builds and caches an array of compiled delegates that set each DateTime/DateTime? property on an instance to UTC.
	/// </summary>
	private static Action<object>[] CreateMaterialisersForType(Type entityType)
	{
		var props = entityType
			.GetProperties(BindingFlags.Public | BindingFlags.Instance)
			.Where(p => p.CanRead && p.CanWrite)
			.Where(p => p.PropertyType == typeof(DateTime)
					 || p.PropertyType == typeof(DateTime?))
			.ToArray();

		var entityParam = Expression.Parameter(typeof(object), "entity");
		var typedEntity = Expression.Convert(entityParam, entityType);

		var actions = new List<Action<object>>(props.Length);

		foreach (var prop in props)
		{
			var propertyExpr = Expression.Property(typedEntity, prop);
			var lambda = prop.PropertyType == typeof(DateTime)
				? CreateDateTimeInterceptor(entityParam, propertyExpr)
				: CreateNullableDateTimeInterceptor(entityParam, propertyExpr);
			actions.Add(lambda);
		}

		return [.. actions];
	}

	private static Action<object> CreateDateTimeInterceptor(ParameterExpression entityParam, MemberExpression propertyExpr)
	{
		var specifyMethod = typeof(DateTime).GetMethod(nameof(DateTime.SpecifyKind), [typeof(DateTime), typeof(DateTimeKind)])!;
		var specifyCall = Expression.Call(specifyMethod, propertyExpr, Expression.Constant(DateTimeKind.Utc));
		var assign = Expression.Assign(propertyExpr, specifyCall);
		var lambda = Expression.Lambda<Action<object>>(assign, entityParam).Compile();
		return lambda;
	}

	private static Action<object> CreateNullableDateTimeInterceptor(ParameterExpression entityParam, MemberExpression propertyExpr)
	{
		var nullableValue = Expression.Property(propertyExpr, "Value");
		var specifyMethod = typeof(DateTime).GetMethod(nameof(DateTime.SpecifyKind), [typeof(DateTime), typeof(DateTimeKind)])!;
		var specifyCall = Expression.Call(specifyMethod, nullableValue, Expression.Constant(DateTimeKind.Utc));
		var nullableAssign = Expression.Assign(propertyExpr, Expression.Convert(specifyCall, typeof(DateTime?)));
		var hasValueCheck = Expression.Property(propertyExpr, "HasValue");
		var conditional = Expression.IfThen(hasValueCheck, nullableAssign);
		var lambda = Expression.Lambda<Action<object>>(conditional, entityParam).Compile();
		return lambda;
	}
}

This interceptor is added as an IInterceptor to the DI.

services.AddSingleton<IInterceptor, DateTimeKindUtcInterceptor>();

And we have a generalised way of adding interceptors with

services.AddDbContextFactory<DbContext>((services, options) =>
{
	options
		.UseSqlServer(...)
		.AddInterceptors(services.GetServices<IInterceptor>());
});