Question

I am trying to see if the current date is new that the the date variable. However the date variable comes from an XMLFile that a user can edit and it has to be written in that format for them to read it easier etc. The format I have is:
Wednesday 22 August 2012 10:14 = (“dddd d MMMM yyyy HH:mm “)

How can I convert this back in to a date format so I can compare it to the current date

Or

Can I compare both dates in this format?

Answer 1

Since you have a string representing your date, you have to “parse” it.

Dim enus = Globalization.CultureInfo.CreateSpecificCulture("en-US")
Dim d As Date = Date.ParseExact("Wednesday 22 August 2012 10:14", "dddd d MMMM yyyy HH:mm", enus)

Now you have a “date” that you can compare to any other date.