[BUG] Date-like metadata is being parsed and serialized

[PavelSafronov]

Storing date-like metadata in DNS A record set (haven't tried other metadata cases), and reading this data out again, returns a different date-like representation of the date.

Repro code:

IAzure azure = ...;
string zoneId = ...;
var dnsZone = await azure.DnsZones.GetByIdAsync(zoneId);
var data = "2020-08-20T16:39:20";
var dnsRecordName = $"time-{DateTime.Now.ToFileTime()}";
await dnsZone
    .Update()
    .DefineARecordSet(dnsRecordName)
    .WithIPv4Address("192.168.1.1")
    .WithMetadata("test", data)
    .Attach()
    .ApplyAsync();

dnsZone = await azure.DnsZones.GetByIdAsync(zoneId);
var record = dnsZone.ListRecordSets().First(r => r.Name == dnsRecordName);
var rtData = record.Metadata["test"];
Console.WriteLine($"{data} {(data == rtData ? "==" : "!=")} {rtData}");

The above code will result in the following output:

2020-08-20T16:39:20 != 08/20/2020 16:39:20

Expected behavior:
Store "2020-08-20T16:39:20" as metadata value, then retrieve the exact same text.

Actual behavior:
Store "2020-08-20T16:39:20" as metadata value, retrieved metadata value is now "08/20/2020 16:39:20".
Azure Portal correctly shows 2020-08-20T16:39:20.

Azure Portal Screenshot, shows correct value in Portal:

Setup

• OS: Windows 10
• IDE : VSCode
• Microsoft.Azure.Management.Fluent, Version=1.0.0.66

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[weidongxu-microsoft]

@xccc-msft Please take a look.

[xseeseesee]

@PavelSafronov You will need set as below for your requirement:

azure.DnsZones.Manager.Inner.DeserializationSettings.DateParseHandling = Newtonsoft.Json.DateParseHandling.None;

But this also impact other date time under your DNS related data. You might want to revert the settings after this. Please take care.

[PavelSafronov]

Is this behavior documented somewhere? What are the impacts that DeserializationSettings.DateParseHandling has on other aspects of the SDK?

What is the reason for parsing metadata strings? Is there any way to disable that? The data that's being sent and received is a string, it would be nice if the SDK treated it purely as a string.

[xseeseesee]

@PavelSafronov It looks like a known issue from Newtonsoft.Json. For each service client in the SDK, it has SerializationSettings and DeserializationSettings. Once it's set as Newtonsoft.Json.DateParseHandling.None, the date format string would not be parsed for the JObject by the certain service client.