Why are dates returned in different formats?

Parse Server 📡
#1

Why is Parse Server returning dates in different formats when using REST API/Cloud Code?

See this JSON as returned from the REST API. Parse fields (createdAt) are formatted as plain strings while for my custom field placementDate the Parse Date object structure is returned. Can I prevent this somehow and always return just the ISO string? For Cloud code, I can use string as a field and do the conversion myself, but not for the REST API.

{
    "results": [
        {
            "objectId": "twgUKW5ffD",
            "placementDate": {
                "__type": "Date",
                "iso": "2022-05-13T00:00:00.000Z"
            },
            "createdAt": "2022-05-13T21:23:53.027Z",
            "updatedAt": "2022-05-30T18:16:26.960Z"
        }
    ]
}

I use Parse Server 5.2.1.

#2

I don’t think there is a way to change that and the reason why I believe it’s this is way is because createdAt and updatedAt are known to be dates while placementDate needs to specify it’s type for the SDKs know how to handle it.

#3

Thank you for the quick reply. I figured something like this. Makes it a bit cumbersome when working without the SDKs for my taste…