Question

I have 2 XML files I’m reading – one has a date/time attribute that’s readable (ex. May 1, 2010 12:03:14 AM) and the other… not so much (ex. 1272686594492). Both files have the complicated date/time format, but only the newer one has the readable version. I cannot figure out how to make the complicated version readable. Any ideas?

The numbers are in the pastbin below.

http://pastebin.com/HMLEAGhf

Thanks!

Answer 1

Looks like what you have is the number of milliseconds from midnight, January 1st 1970 (which is kind of like UNIX time, except it’s in milliseconds, not seconds). For example:

long l = 1272740342854;
DateTime dt = new DateTime(1970, 1, 1).AddMilliseconds(l);
Console.WriteLine(dt);

When I plug that in, it’s actually a couple of hours off so I guess there must be some kind of timezone offset applied as well.