why parseexect doesnot work some time? i take date into"txtdate.Text" from calender extender of ajax toolkit and format set to "dd/MM/yyyy",also i have set page cultute to en-GB.

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Error is" String is not a valid datetime string" [ error occurs at following code: DateTime date = DateTime.ParseExact(txtdate.Text, "dd/MM/yyyy", null); ]

DateTime date = DateTime.ParseExact(txtdate.Text, "dd/MM/yyyy", null);
Convert.ToDateTime(date).ToShortDateString();

Posted 14-Jan-13 20:48pm

varun150

Updated 14-Jan-13 21:22pm

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OriginalGriff 15-Jan-13 2:54am

What do you mean "does not work some time?" What does it do when it "doesn't work"?

varun150 15-Jan-13 3:05am

when i post date from the text box to database it gives an error i.e. string was not a valid datetime object something like this i don't remember it exactly.
but i refresh the page and post the same date again it shows no error

varun150 15-Jan-13 3:10am

error occurs at following code:
DateTime date = DateTime.ParseExact(txtdate.Text, "dd/MM/yyyy", null);

Sergey Alexandrovich Kryukov 15-Jan-13 2:55am

No, please provide exact steps how to reproduce the problem.
—SA

varun150 15-Jan-13 3:14am

there's no exact step i think this error occurs sometime only,
[
when i post date from the text box to database it gives an error i.e. string was not a valid datetime object something like this i don't remember it exactly.
but i refresh the page and post the same date again it shows no error
]

varun150 15-Jan-13 3:14am

error occurs at following code:
DateTime date = DateTime.ParseExact(txtdate.Text, "dd/MM/yyyy", null);

Sergey Alexandrovich Kryukov 15-Jan-13 10:41am

Of course, not any text can parse to some pattern, isn't it obvious?
You should have recorded the data for 'bad' case, show the code and the data...
—SA

varun150 19-Jan-13 6:53am

not every text but data from calander extender ajex toolkit in this ("dd/MM/yyyy")format should be parsed , tell me if i m wrong

Sergey Alexandrovich Kryukov 19-Jan-13 17:32pm

Well, right, then use ParseExact/TryParseExact, to parse from the format known in advance. That's it.
—SA

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OriginalGriff · Accepted Answer · 2013-01-14T21:16:00

I think you are a little confused - the second line of your code doesn't do anything:

C#

DateTime date = DateTime.ParseExact(txtdate.Text, "dd/MM/yyyy", null);
Convert.ToDateTime(date).ToShortDateString();

But it is important to note that ToShortDateString does not return a specific, fixed format - particularly it does not return a string which is suitable for use with SQL. It returns a string which is dependant on the Culture that is set in teh machine, where SQL prefers to get 'yyyy-MM-dd' format dates if you hand them through as a string.
So two things:
First, hand your date through to SQL as a DateTime via a parametrized query (you should be using these at all times anyway to prevent an SQL injection attack which can accidentally or deliberately destroy your database). Don't convert dates to streings unless it s for presentation to the user!

Second, use TryParseExact instead - it reports a problem and allows you to log it and look at why it happened in better detail as well as report the problem to the user.

I'm wondering if the problem is to do with the DateTime format set on the Client machine - are you sure the date is in dd/MM/yyyy format? Have you checked?