Question

How can I convert a datetime object to the format yyyy/MM/dd? I am trying this:

DateTime selectedDate =Convert.ToDateTime( Calendar1.SelectedDate.ToShortDateString());
selectedDate = DateTime.ParseExact(selectedDate, "yyyy/MM/dd", CultureInfo.InvariantCulture);

But I get the following errors:

The best overloaded method match for ‘System.DateTime.ParseExact(string, string, System.IFormatProvider)’ has some invalid arguments

or

Argument ‘1’: cannot convert from ‘System.DateTime’ to ‘string’

Answer 1

A DateTime does not have an inherent format – only an internal representation.

Formatting comes into play when you want to display the value of the DateTime instance:

string formatted = DateTime.ToString("yyyy/MM/dd", CultureInfo.InvariantCulture);

The above formatted string will contain the values of the DateTime instance in the required format.