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DateTime.ParseExact is not doing what i want it to do

When use the .ParseExact() method for the DateTime, i always get the same output as the string i put in. Here is my code:
[Authorize(Roles = "Backoffice, Manager")]
[HttpPost]
public ActionResult FilmShowCreate(FilmShowViewModel newFilmShow)
{
if (ModelState.IsValidField("FilmId") && ModelState.IsValidField("Time"))
{
DateTime unformattedDateTime = newFilmShow.Date.Date + newFilmShow.Time.TimeOfDay;
string dateString = unformattedDateTime.ToString("yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss");
DateTime dbDate = DateTime.ParseExact(dateString, "yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss",
CultureInfo.GetCultureInfo("en-US"), DateTimeStyles.AdjustToUniversal);
FilmShow filmShow = new FilmShow
{
Film = filmRepository.GetFilm(newFilmShow.FilmId),
Cinema = cinemaRepository.GetCinema(newFilmShow.CinemaId),
ThreeDimensional = newFilmShow.ThreeDimensional,
Date = dbDate,
SpecialEvent = newFilmShow.SpecialEvent
};
filmShowsRepository.AddShow(filmShow);
return View("SuccesfullFilmShowCreate");
The string dateString is formatted good, but it is a string and I need to store it in the database as a format DateTime like this "year-month-day hours:minutes:seconds". But for whatever reason the ParseExact doesn't seem to work in my case. The DateTime format i get is "dd-MM-yyyy HH:mm".

It doesn't do what you want because, well, that function isn't supposed to do what you are describing.
ParseExact simply indicates that the input must match the given format in order to be used (and not throw an exception). It is a counterpart to Parse which will accept any valid Date/Time format. It has absolutely no bearing on the future format of any string representation of the DateTime object it creates.
If you want to output it in a given format, pass your format string into ToString before sending that string to the database. Of course, if you are using something like EF, the conversion is done for you and it shouldn't matter.
Example:
string myFormattedDateTime = dbDate.ToString("yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss");
Reading your question more closely, I realize that you seem to think that DateTime has some "stored" format. It does not. DateTime is just a collection of numbers that hold the information required to represent a date and time. The format you are describing only exists in string representations.

c# Is it possible to subtract a day in the datetime format

I have the following simple example:
string dt = DateTime.Now.ToString("yyyy-MM-dd hh.mm.ss");
I can't change the DateTime.Now, but I can change datetime format yyyy-MM-dd hh.mm.ss. Following this example the result must be today's date, but I need to get yesterday's date with the same parameters except day (year, month, hours, minutes and seconds). E.g. 2015-08-23 12.09.59 must be 2015-08-22 12.09.59. So is it possible to use some "-" operator or something else inside the datetime format to achieve the result?

If you want yesterday's date, you can do this
string dt = DateTime.Now.AddDays(-1).ToString("yyyy-MM-dd hh.mm.ss");
DateTime.AddDays() lets you add number of days, positive for future date, negative for past date.

E.g. 2015-08-23 12.09.59 must be 2015-08-22 12.09.59. So is it
possible to use some "-" operator or something else inside the
datetime format to achieve the result?
No, it's not possible inside the DateTime format. you can not change any thing. Because it is only for define format of the Date to display in string format. Any addition or subtraction can only be done before converting it to string format as suggested by "Arghya C".
Can you explain your limitation so we can solve your problem.

If you can only influence the date time pattern, than use the roundtrip format and parse the returning string back to a date time, add the calculation and format it into the desired format:
var dateTimeString = badLibrary.GetDateTime("o");
var dateTime = DateTime.Parse(dateTimeString, null, DateTimeStyles.RoundtripKind);
var newDateTime = dateTime.AddDays(-1);
return newDateTime.ToString("yyyy-MM-dd hh.mm.ss");

C# Datetime format conversion

I have a conversion problem with datetime. I have a date string as MM/dd/yyyy. Now I need to convert it to yyyy-MM-dd.
But I'm facing some error. Please help
public static DateTime ToDBDateTime(string _dateTime)
{
string sysFormat = "MM/dd/yyyy hh:mm:ss tt";
string _convertedDate = string.Empty;
if (_dateTime != null || _dateTime != string.Empty)
{
_convertedDate = DateTime.ParseExact(_dateTime, sysFormat, System.Globalization.CultureInfo.InvariantCulture).ToString(_toDBDateFormat);
//_convertedDate = Convert.ToDateTime(_dateTime).ToString(_toDBDateFormat);
/// Debug.Print(sysFormat);
}
return Convert.ToDateTime(_convertedDate);
}
And I want to know that is there is any way to pass the datetime in various formats and it would return the expected format.
E.g.: if I pass date as dd/MM/yyyy or MM/dd/yyyy, the above function would return the date in format as yyyy-MM-dd.
Please provide some suggestion to solve datetime issues.

I have a date string as MM/dd/yyyy
Right... and yet you're trying to parse it like this:
string sysFormat = "MM/dd/yyyy hh:mm:ss tt";
...
_convertedDate = DateTime.ParseExact(_dateTime, sysFormat,
CultureInfo.InvariantCulture)
You need to give a format string which matches your input - so why are you including a time part? You probably just want:
string sysFormat = "MM/dd/yyyy";
However, that's not the end of the problems. You're then converting that DateTime back into a string like this:
.ToString(_toDBDateFormat)
... and parsing it once more:
return Convert.ToDateTime(_convertedDate);
Why on earth would you want to do that? You should avoid string conversions as far as possible. Aside from anything else, what's to say that _toDBDateFormat (a variable name which raises my suspicions to start with) and Convert.ToDateTime (which always uses the current culture for parsing) are going to be compatible?
You should:
Work out how you want to handle being given an empty string or null, and just return an appropriate DateTime then
Otherwise, just parse using the right format.
This part of your question also concerns me:
E.g.: if I pass date as dd/MM/yyyy or MM/dd/yyyy, the above function would return the date in format as yyyy-MM-dd.
There's no such thing as "the date in format as yyyy-MM-dd". A DateTime is just a date and time value. It has no intrinsic format. You specify how you want to format it when you format it. However, if you're using the value for a database query, you shouldn't be converting it into a string again anyway - you should be using parameterized SQL, and just providing it as a DateTime.

As you have a date in a string with the format "MM/dd/yyyy" and want to convert it to "yyyy-MM-dd" you could do like this:
DateTime dt = DateTime.ParseExact(dateString, "MM/dd/yyyy", CultureInfo.InvariantCulture);
dt.ToString("yyyy-MM-dd");

Use the inbuilt tostring like this:
Convert.ToDateTime(_convertedDate).ToString("MM/dd/yyyy") or whatever format you want.

I tried this and its working fine.
DateTime date1 = new DateTime(2009, 8, 1);
date1.ToString("yyyy-MM-dd hh:mm:ss tt");
You can apply any format in this ToString.
Hope that helps
Milind

how to give format DateTime.Date?

DateTime dt = DateTime.Now
dt.Date is created to 31.10.2012 00:00:00 .it is created to dd.mm.yyyy format but i need dd/mm/yyyy. Can i use: return new DateTime(d.Year, d.Month, d.Day, 0, 0, 0); it will create to me dd/mm/yyyy solution?Please dont translate String.i need datetime...

The DateTime struct doesn't store any formatting information internally. If you want to output the DateTime instance as a formatted string, you just need to call ToString() with the proper format string:
var date = DateTime.Now;
var formattedString = date.ToString("dd/MM/yyyy", CultureInfo.InvariantCulture);
If you need more information on exactly which specifiers to use in your format string, check out:
MSDN - Custom Date and Time Format Strings

Just the way to convert to string, DateTime itself has no format:
var result = DateTime.Now.Date
.ToString("dd/MM/yyyy", CultureInfo.InvariantCulture);

var dt = DateTime.Now;
var stringDt = dt.Date.ToString("dd/MM/yyyy");

In you case you can simply use :
dt.ToString("dd/MM/yyyy");
Anyway there al the string format you can use with DateTime : Here.

System.DateTime does not have any format. You can view its string representation in format.
Try this
Console.WriteLine(DateTime.Now.Date.ToString("dd'/'MM'/'yyyy"));

DateTime, numeric types and most other types do not store their values in a formatted way. Rather they store their data using a binary representation. If you want to display this data to the user, you must convert it to a string. This conversion involves formatting the data.
string formattedDate = DateTime.Now.ToString("dd/MM/yyyy",
CultureInfo.InvariantCulture);
Or
Console.WriteLine("Date = {0:dd/MM/yyyy}", DateTime.Now);
Console.WriteLine converts the date into a string in order to write it to the console.

DateTime structure always has the Date and Time stored in it. If you need to extract the date alone as text you can do the following.
var date = DateTime.Now.ToString("d");
Console.WriteLine(date);
This will print the date as in the format as specified by the culture set in the system. The list of standard datetime format strings supported by dotnet framework can be found here

Get DateTime Obj from "mm/yyyy" format Date string

I have a date string in format "08/1999" I want to get the first date of the corresponding month. eg : in this case 08/01/1999.
It is simple for en-Us culture. I break the string, append "01" in the string to get 08/01/1999 and then DateTime.Parse(datestring) but this is valid for en-US culture only.
How can I do this for different culture ?
My datestring will always be in mm/yyyy format. and I am trying to obtain a DataTime obj from this dateString.

Use ParseExact method. Note upper-cased M's are for months and lower-cased m's for minutes.
string dateToConvert = "08/1999";
string format = "MM/yyyy";
CultureInfo provider = CultureInfo.InvariantCulture;
DateTime result = DateTime.ParseExact(dateToConvert, format, provider);
Output:
{1999-08-01 00:00:00}
You can also use Convert.ToDateTime and Parse methods. It will produce the same result, but in implicite way:
DateTime result = Convert.ToDateTime(dateToConvert, provider); // Output: {1999-08-01 00:00:00}
DateTime result = DateTime.Parse(dateToConvert, provider); // Output: {1999-08-01 00:00:00}
Read more at:
Parsing Date and Time Strings
Standard Date and Time Format Strings
Custom Date and Time Format Strings

I'm not sure if I understand your question correctly, but you can try passing CultureInfo.InvariantCulture if you want to force the US date format regardless of the regional settings of the client computer:
DateTime.Parse("08/1999", System.Globalization.CultureInfo.InvariantCulture)

I break the string, append "01" in the string to get 08/01/1999 and then DateTime.Parse(datestring)
That's a very long-winded way to do it. Simply this will work:
DateTime.Parse("08/1999")
How can I do this for different culture ?
If your string is always in this format, do this:
DateTime.Parse("08/1999", CultureInfo.InvariantCulture)