AutoMapper : Site wide usage of IValueFormatter fo

Question

It is my understanding I can configure AutoMapper in the following way and during mapping it should format all source model dates to the rules defined in the IValueFormatter and set the result to the mapped model.

ForSourceType<DateTime>().AddFormatter<StandardDateFormatter>();
ForSourceType<DateTime?>().AddFormatter<StandardDateFormatter>();

I get no effect for my mapped class with this. It only works when I do the following:

Mapper.CreateMap<Member, MemberForm>().ForMember(x => x.DateOfBirth, y => y.AddFormatter<StandardDateFormatter>());

I am mapping DateTime? Member.DateOfBirth to string MemberForm.DateOfBirth. The formatter basically creates a short date string from the date.

Is there something I am missing when setting the default formatter for a given type?

Thanks

public class StandardDateFormatter : IValueFormatter
{
    public string FormatValue(ResolutionContext context)
    {
        if (context.SourceValue == null)
            return null;

        if (!(context.SourceValue is DateTime))
            return context.SourceValue.ToNullSafeString();

        return ((DateTime)context.SourceValue).ToShortDateString();
    }
}

Answer 1

I had the same problem and found a fix. Try changing:

ForSourceType<DateTime>().AddFormatter<StandardDateFormatter>();

To

Mapper.ForSourceType<DateTime>().AddFormatter<StandardDateFormatter>();

Answer 2

FYI - AddFormatter method is obsolete in 3.0 version. You can use ConvertUsing instead:

Mapper.CreateMap<DateTime, string>()
    .ConvertUsing<DateTimeCustomConverter>();

public class DateTimeCustomConverter : ITypeConverter<DateTime, string>
{
    public string Convert(ResolutionContext context)
    {
        if (context.SourceValue == null)
            return null;
        if (!(context.SourceValue is DateTime))
            return context.SourceValue.ToNullSafeString();
        return ((DateTime)context.SourceValue).ToShortDateString();
    }
}

Answer 3

I am using AutoMapper v1.

There is an abstract class there that does most of the grunt work called ValueFormatter.

My Code:

public class DateStringFormatter : ValueFormatter<DateTime>
{
    protected override string FormatValueCore(DateTime value)
    {
        return value.ToString("dd MMM yyyy");
    }
}

Then in my Profile class:

public sealed class ViewModelMapperProfile : Profile
{
    ...

    protected override void Configure()
    {
        ForSourceType<DateTime>().AddFormatter<DateStringFormatter>();

        CreateMap<dto, viewModel>()
            .ForMember(dto => dto.DateSomething, opt => opt.MapFrom(src => src.DateFormatted));

}