How to convert data into DateTime object - c#

How do I convert a date string, in the general form of "ccyymmdd" in to a DateTime object in C#?
For example, how would I convert "20100715" in to a DateTime object.
Please - No RTFM links to Microsoft Tech Docs.
Many Thanks...

using System.Globalization;
DateTime.ParseExact("20100715", "yyyyMMdd", CultureInfo.InvariantCulture);

var dt = DateTime.Parse("your date string").ToString("yymmdd");
I don't think cc is a valid date formatting option?
As Richard points out, you can also use DateTime.ParseExact which allows you to use culture information for the parsing, or you can use DateTime.TryParseExact which is the same as DateTime.ParseExact, but if there is an exception then a null date is returned rather then an exception being raised.
EDIT:
The question has been updated so that a DateTime is specifically returned. In that case you can omit the .ToString() part of my answer. Calling DateTime.Parse() will return a DateTime object. When getting the date value via ToString(), simply pass the required formatting string to get the date in the desired format.
Cheers.
Jas.

Take a look at this and this
DateTime.Parse();
DateTime.ParseExact();
And worth a mention
DateTime.TryParse();

If your date string is already sanitized (Borrowed from Mike's answer):
DateTime dt = DateTime.ParseExact("20100715", "yyyyMMdd", CultureInfo.InvariantCulture);
Otherwise:
DateTime dt;
if (!DateTime.TryParseExact("20100715", "yyyyMMdd", CultureInfo.InvariantCulture, DateTimeStyles.None, out dt))
{
// Handle bad date
}

System.DateTime.Parse(yourDateString)
You might have to manipulate your string to a format that the method can handle first.
See http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/1k1skd40.aspx
for more info

I'm not sure what the "cc" part is, but there are a few options.
DateTime.Parse(string) may be able to convert the string, but if the string is in a non-standard format you may have to do some pre-conversion first.

Related

convert resulting string datetime to dateTime value

i am fetching datetime value through xml like:
string time = "20150605020247+0000"
I want to convert into datetime value. I tried with DateTime.Parse, ParseExact, Convert.ToDateTime. It's not working, it's returning the error:
string was not recognised as valid datetime
You should use DateTime.ParseExact like this
DateTime theTime = DateTime.ParseExact(time, "ddMMyyyyHHmmss+ffff,CultureInfo.InvariantCulture);
You should be able to use DateTime.ParseExact, since you know the exact format of the string. If we assume it's year, month, day, hour, minute, second, and offset, then you can do something like:
var result = DateTime.ParseExact("20150605020247+0000", "yyyyMMddHHmmsszzz",
CultureInfo.InvariantCulture);
You need to use exact format specifier in your ParseExact method.
DateTime.ParseExact("20150605020247+0000", "yyyyMMddHHmmsszzz", System.Globalization.CultureInfo.InvariantCulture);
Fiddle: https://dotnetfiddle.net/cQJ9hN
EDIT:
Please check the standard DateTime formats used in .NET world: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/standard/base-types/standard-date-and-time-format-strings plus check the source of your data how exactly are the string dates produced.
However most likely the '+####' part of your string is the local date UTC offset, not the fractions part of the time (as other answers suggest). So parsing the date by using the "yyyyMMddhhmmssffff" would produce wrong results.

c# parse date time with timezone

How can we parse date time with time zone.
<TIMESTAMP_UTC>20180523160000</TIMESTAMP_UTC>
<TIMEZONE>UTC+8</TIMEZONE>
this should convert as in 2018-05-24 00:00:00.
I tried couple of things but could not succeed.
I tried the below command but it throws an error.
DateTime.ParseExact("20180523160000+08:00", "yyyyMMddHHmmssZhhmm", System.Globalization.CultureInfo.InvariantCulture)
Do you know how we can parse this with DateTime Parse methods.
You need to use DateTimeOffset.ParseExact
var date = DateTimeOffset.ParseExact("20180523160000+08:00", "yyyyMMddHHmmsszzz", CultureInfo.InvariantCulture);
Try using DateTimeOffset.Parse() instead of DateTime.Parse() as DateTimeOffset stores timezone info.
You can refer to the following MSDN link for more details:
https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb351654(v=vs.110).aspx
You could invert the sign of your timezone and then parse it with
var dateTime = DateTime.ParseExact(
"20180523160000UTC-8",
"yyyyMMddHHmmssUTCz",
CultureInfo.InvariantCulture);
But if this is a good approach is probably questionable.

DateTime.Parse doesn't use patterns in current CultureInfo(Silverlight)?

I've got following problem.
I set CurrentCulture and CurrentUICulture and use following patterns in them:
ShortDatePattern is dd-MM-yyyy
LongTimePattern is HH.mm.ss.
When I convert dates to string I get 15-01-2008 00.00.00. But when i call DateTime.Parse("15-01-2008 00.00.00") it throws a FormatException. If i set ShortDatePattern to dd-MM-yyyy HH.mm.ss exception is still thrown. Is there any way to force DateTime.Parse to use pattern for time by setting CurrentCulture accordingly.
I know that using Parse overloads or ParseExact might help, but the whole point was to use formatting without refactoring loads of code that is already written and uses DateTime.Parse and ToString all over the place
Additional info: A also tried putting - and . in ' - it was no use. CurrentCulture is based on Swedish.
if you want to format a DateTIme using String.Format() Method you could do something like this below. String.Format DateTime C#
var dt = "15-01-2008 00.00.00";
var dateFrmt = String.Format("{0:dd/MM/yyyy HH:mm:ss}", dt);
Output = "15-01-2008 00.00.00"
if you want to strip the HH:mm:ss out of the DateTime variable for short date you could do the following here is an example will yield ShortDate
DateTime dt = DateTime.Now;
var dateFrmt = String.Format("{0:M/d/yyyy}", dt);
Output = "1/9/2013"
DateTime.ParseExact Method if you choose to go that route

Help converting a string date to a DateTime

I'm using the Ajax control toolkit calendar extender on a textbox with a submit button. Simple.
The debugger shows that the text is properly being transferred to calling method, but this line of conversion code converts textbox text to 1/1/0001 12:00:00 AM. The text box date is this: 4/15/2011
DateTime txtMyDate = Convert.ToDateTime(txtDate.Text);
What am I doing wrong?
You should use the DateTime.Parse() method:
DateTime txtMyDate = DateTime.Parse(txtDate.Text);
As mentioned you can also use DateTime.ParseExact() using a similar syntax as shown:
DateTime txtMyDate = DateTime.ParseExact(txtDate.Text,
[string format],
[IFormatProvider provider]);
Parse vs ParseExact:
Parse() - assumes the data is valid and does its best to fit it into the type, forcing things that seem vaguely ridiculous when a developer has a chance to invoke common sense.
ParseExact() - only allows the exact format specified and will throw on any variation.
Source on Parse vs ParseExact
There are many ways to convert text to a DateTime, try this one:
DateTime txtMyDate =
DateTime.ParseExact(txtDate.Text, "M/d/yyyy", CultureInfo.InvariantCulture);
Edit: forgot the culture info argument
Use DateTime.ParseExact to extract your date value from a formated date string:
DateTime dateValue =
DateTime.ParseExact(stringDateValue, "M/d/yyyy",
CultureInfo.InvariantCulture);
Try
DateTime instance = DateTime.Parse( txtDate.Text ) ;
which is [somewhat] flexible about what it will accept. Alternatively, DateTime.ParseExact() will give you move control over the conversion.

Convert DateTime

This works:
testDateTime = DateTime.ParseExact("16/10/2010", "dd/MM/yyyy", null);
This does NOT:
string somedate = "16/10/2010";
testDateTime = DateTime.ParseExact(somedate, "dd/MM/yyyy", null);
why??
Both code snippets are absolutely equivalent and should work/not work the same. I suspect that the value of the somedate variable is not what you think it is inside your application. Try debugging.
Both of your examples are equivalent, and should work if your current culture is en-US, but not necessarily in all other cultures.
For example, the following will throw a FormatException because the de-DE culture uses period as a separator (16.10.2010):
System.Threading.Thread.CurrentThread.CurrentCulture =
CultureInfo.CreateSpecificCulture("de-DE");
DateTime testDateTime = DateTime.ParseExact("16/10/2010", "dd/MM/yyyy", null);
In general it's good practice (FxCop will warn about it) to always specify the IFormatProvider parameter when it's available: usually either CultureInfo.CurrentCulture if you're parsing input from the current user; or CultureInfo.InvariantCulture if you're parsing input from an external source.
// For input from the current user (16.10.2010 in Germany)
testDateTime = DateTime.ParseExact("16/10/2010", "dd/MM/yyyy", CultureInfo.CurrentCulture);
// For input from an external source in a defined culture-invariant format
testDateTime = DateTime.ParseExact("16/10/2010", "dd/MM/yyyy", CultureInfo.InvariantCulture);
It worked fine when I tried it... Just copied and pasted it.
Insert a breakpoint, put your pointer over the variable and check the month, day and year member. If they are not rights, show us what you see.
If you are using a print or msgbox to show the value of the variable, maybe you are not suplying a mask/format for the output.
You are trying to change the DateTime format right? You can not do that with a DateTime object. You can change the format only when you display the DateTime object using String.Format: String.Format("{0:d/M/yyyy HH:mm:ss}", dt). (for example or other methods)
Both the things worked for me when I tried. What is the error you are getting?
The ParseExact() uses the second parameter to parse your input string and not to return the value in that format.
EDIT: from Joe's comment below - The output you get will be in "MM/dd/yyyy" format" - the output will be a DateTime type that doesn't have any intrinsic format.
for some reason it would not work for me UNTIL i added this: CultureInfo.InvariantCulture
DateTime.ParseExact(sValue, "dd/MM/yyyy", CultureInfo.InvariantCulture);

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