How to read DateTimeOffset from Postgres with Dapper.net? - postgresql

Question

Having this Postgres table
CREATE TABLE "TimeRange"
(
"Id" bigint NOT NULL,
"Start" timestamp with time zone NOT NULL,
"End" timestamp with time zone NOT NULL,
CONSTRAINT "TimeRange_pkey" PRIMARY KEY ("Id")
)
Filling it with
INSERT INTO "TimeRange"("Id", "Start", "End")
VALUES (1, '2014-03-03 05:55:00+01', '2014-03-03 05:55:00+01');
Having this C# POCO
public class TimeRange
{
public long Id { get; set; }
public DateTimeOffset Start { get; set; }
public DateTimeOffset End { get; set; }
}
Selecting data..
myOpenedNpgsqlConnection.Query<TimeRange>("SELECT * FROM \"TimeRange\"");
..results in DataException: "Error parsing column 1 (Start=03.03.2014 05:55:00 - DateTime)"
I'm aware that the timezone information is missing in the error message. Running the same sql statement in PgAdmin returns results that include timezone information.
Is there any (clean) way to read Postgres "timestamp with timezone" via dapper into DateTimeOffset?
EDIT:
I've found that modifing the POCO to following seems to work. But seriously, is there no nicer way?
public class TimeRange
{
public long Id { get; set; }
private DateTime Start { get; set; }
private DateTime End { get; set; }
public DateTimeOffset StartOffset { get { return this.Start; } set { this.Start = value.UtcDateTime; } }
public DateTimeOffset EndOffset { get { return this.Start; } set { this.Start = value.UtcDateTime; } }
}

Answer 1

It seems that PostgreSQL stores internally the UTC timestamp only.
Maybe it helps, if you cast the timezone information in SQL query, PostgreSQL uses the TZ from client session.
CREATE TABLE TimeRange
(
Id bigint NOT NULL,
start_at timestamp with time zone NOT NULL,
end_at timestamp with time zone NOT NULL,
CONSTRAINT TimeRange_pkey PRIMARY KEY (Id)
);
INSERT INTO TimeRange (Id, start_at, end_at)
VALUES (1, '2014-03-03 05:55:00+01', '2014-03-03 05:55:00+01');
SELECT
id,
start_at::TIMESTAMP WITH TIME ZONE as start,
end_at::TIMESTAMP WITH TIME ZONE as end
FROM TimeRange;