Deserialize Timezoneinfo object from string into C# object

Question

I am getting timezoneInfo in form of xml string , is there any way to deserialize it into TimzoneInfo c# object?

Xml String:

<Id xmlns=\"\" xmlns:d=\"http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema\" i:type=\"d:string\" xmlns:i=\"http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance\">Pacific Standard Time (Mexico)</Id><DisplayName xmlns=\"\" xmlns:d=\"http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema\" i:type=\"d:string\" xmlns:i=\"http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance\">(UTC-08:00) Baja California</DisplayName><StandardName xmlns=\"\" xmlns:d=\"http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema\" i:type=\"d:string\" xmlns:i=\"http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance\">Pacific Standard Time (Mexico)</StandardName><DaylightName xmlns=\"\" xmlns:d=\"http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema\" i:type=\"d:string\" xmlns:i=\"http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance\">Pacific Daylight Time (Mexico)</DaylightName><BaseUtcOffset xmlns=\"\" xmlns:d=\"http://schemas.microsoft.com/2003/10/Serialization/\" i:type=\"d:duration\" xmlns:i=\"http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance\">-PT8H</BaseUtcOffset><AdjustmentRules xmlns=\"\" xmlns:d=\"mscorlib, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561
934e089\" i:type=\"d:System.TimeZoneInfo+AdjustmentRule[]\" xmlns:i=\"http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance\"><c:TimeZoneInfo.AdjustmentRule xmlns:c=\"http://schemas.datacontract.org/2004/07/System\"><DateStart xmlns:e=\"http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema\" i:type=\"e:dateTime\">0001-01-01T00:00:00</DateStart><DateEnd xmlns:e=\"http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema\" i:type=\"e:dateTime\">9999-12-31T00:00:00</DateEnd><DaylightDelta xmlns:e=\"http://schemas.microsoft.com/2003/10/Serialization/\" i:type=\"e:duration\">PT1H</DaylightDelta><DaylightTransitionStart i:type=\"d:System.TimeZoneInfo+TransitionTime\"><TimeOfDay xmlns:e=\"http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema\" i:type=\"e:dateTime\">0001-01-01T02:00:00</TimeOfDay><Month xmlns:e=\"http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema\" i:type=\"e:unsignedByte\">4</Month><Week xmlns:e=\"http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema\" i:type=\"e:unsignedByte\">1</Week><Day xmlns:e=\"http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema\" i:type=\"e:unsignedByte\">1</Day><DayOfWeek i:type=\"d:System.DayOfWeek\">Sunday</
DayOfWeek><IsFixedDateRule xmlns:e=\"http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema\" i:type=\"e:boolean\">false</IsFixedDateRule></DaylightTransitionStart><DaylightTransitionEnd i:type=\"d:System.TimeZoneInfo+TransitionTime\"><TimeOfDay xmlns:e=\"http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema\" i:type=\"e:dateTime\">0001-01-01T02:00:00</TimeOfDay><Month xmlns:e=\"http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema\" i:type=\"e:unsignedByte\">10</Month><Week xmlns:e=\"http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema\" i:type=\"e:unsignedByte\">5</Week><Day xmlns:e=\"http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema\" i:type=\"e:unsignedByte\">1</Day><DayOfWeek i:type=\"d:System.DayOfWeek\">Sunday</DayOfWeek><IsFixedDateRule xmlns:e=\"http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema\" i:type=\"e:boolean\">false</IsFixedDateRule></DaylightTransitionEnd></c:TimeZoneInfo.AdjustmentRule></AdjustmentRules><SupportsDaylightSavingTime xmlns=\"\" xmlns:d=\"http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema\" i:type=\"d:boolean\" xmlns:i=\"http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance\">true</SupportsDaylightSavingTime>"
<Id xmlns=\"\" xmlns:d=\"http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema\" i:type=\"d:string\" xmlns:i=\"http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance\">Pacific Standard Time (Mexico)</Id><DisplayName xmlns=\"\" xmlns:d=\"http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema\" i:type=\"d:string\" xmlns:i=\"http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance\">(UTC-08:00) Baja California</DisplayName><StandardName xmlns=\"\" xmlns:d=\"http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema\" i:type=\"d:string\" xmlns:i=\"http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance\">Pacific Standard Time (Mexico)</StandardName><DaylightName xmlns=\"\" xmlns:d=\"http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema\" i:type=\"d:string\" xmlns:i=\"http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance\">Pacific Daylight Time (Mexico)</DaylightName><BaseUtcOffset xmlns=\"\" xmlns:d=\"http://schemas.microsoft.com/2003/10/Serialization/\" i:type=\"d:duration\" xmlns:i=\"http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance\">-PT8H</BaseUtcOffset><AdjustmentRules xmlns=\"\" xmlns:d=\"mscorlib, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561
934e089\" i:type=\"d:System.TimeZoneInfo+AdjustmentRule[]\" xmlns:i=\"http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance\"><c:TimeZoneInfo.AdjustmentRule xmlns:c=\"http://schemas.datacontract.org/2004/07/System\"><DateStart xmlns:e=\"http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema\" i:type=\"e:dateTime\">0001-01-01T00:00:00</DateStart><DateEnd xmlns:e=\"http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema\" i:type=\"e:dateTime\">9999-12-31T00:00:00</DateEnd><DaylightDelta xmlns:e=\"http://schemas.microsoft.com/2003/10/Serialization/\" i:type=\"e:duration\">PT1H</DaylightDelta><DaylightTransitionStart i:type=\"d:System.TimeZoneInfo+TransitionTime\"><TimeOfDay xmlns:e=\"http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema\" i:type=\"e:dateTime\">0001-01-01T02:00:00</TimeOfDay><Month xmlns:e=\"http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema\" i:type=\"e:unsignedByte\">4</Month><Week xmlns:e=\"http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema\" i:type=\"e:unsignedByte\">1</Week><Day xmlns:e=\"http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema\" i:type=\"e:unsignedByte\">1</Day><DayOfWeek i:type=\"d:System.DayOfWeek\">Sunday</
DayOfWeek><IsFixedDateRule xmlns:e=\"http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema\" i:type=\"e:boolean\">false</IsFixedDateRule></DaylightTransitionStart><DaylightTransitionEnd i:type=\"d:System.TimeZoneInfo+TransitionTime\"><TimeOfDay xmlns:e=\"http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema\" i:type=\"e:dateTime\">0001-01-01T02:00:00</TimeOfDay><Month xmlns:e=\"http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema\" i:type=\"e:unsignedByte\">10</Month><Week xmlns:e=\"http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema\" i:type=\"e:unsignedByte\">5</Week><Day xmlns:e=\"http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema\" i:type=\"e:unsignedByte\">1</Day><DayOfWeek i:type=\"d:System.DayOfWeek\">Sunday</DayOfWeek><IsFixedDateRule xmlns:e=\"http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema\" i:type=\"e:boolean\">false</IsFixedDateRule></DaylightTransitionEnd></c:TimeZoneInfo.AdjustmentRule></AdjustmentRules><SupportsDaylightSavingTime xmlns=\"\" xmlns:d=\"http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema\" i:type=\"d:boolean\" xmlns:i=\"http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance\">true</SupportsDaylightSavingTime>"

I am trying to deserialize using below code

var timeZoneObj=  TimeZoneInfo.FromSerializedString(timeZoneInfo.Value);

I am getting the exception as An error occurred while deserializing the object. The serialized data is corrupt.

Answer 1

The exception is justified, because the input string is indeed corrupt, missing its delimiting semicolons. Use a valid string generated from TimeZoneInfo.ToSerializedString() as input to TimeZoneInfo.FromSerializedString() .

While MSDN ( https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.timezoneinfo.toserializedstring(v=vs.110).aspx ) does not point out any such potential problems, it might be that your input string has been generated on a different platform/encoding/framework version.

Answer 2

Same problem. I get the timezones from IEnumerable allTimeZones = TimeZoneInfo.GetSystemTimeZones();

taking eg the DisplayName of an element: (UTC+02:00) Harare, Pretoria

I run: TimeZoneInfo.FromSerializedString( "(UTC+02:00) Harare, Pretoria" )

in the immediate window which gives an error.

I also tried the StandardName: South Africa Standard Time but TimeZoneInfo.FromSerializedString( "South Africa Standard Time" )

also generates the exception.