Question

I need help converting this string –> 20090727 10:16:36:643 to –> 07/27/2009 10:16:36

The original date and time are being returned by the SynchronizationAgent.LastUpdated() function, which returns a String in the above format.

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Original question:preserved for reference

I have this –>

 HUD.LastSyncDate = mergeSubscription.SynchronizationAgent.LastUpdatedTime;

Which is setting a property that looks like this –>

public static string LastSyncDate
    {
        get { return _lastSyncDate; }
        set
        {
            _lastSyncDate = String.Format(CultureInfo.InvariantCulture,"{0:G}", value);
        }
    }

Unfortunately, with or without the String.Format the date that is displayed looks like this –> 20090727 10:16:36:643

I have tried multiple variations to Format it the way I want. What am I missing?

Based on the below suggestions(Mostly Joel’s), I implemented the suggested changes but I am still getting a "String is not a valid DateTime error"

I also tried implementing this –>

HUD.LastSyncDate = DateTime.ParseExact(mergeSubscription.SynchronizationAgent.LastUpdatedTime,"yyyyMMdd HH:mm:ss:fff",CultureInfo.InvariantCulture);

but still nothing.

Answer 1

It appears to me that LastUpdatedTime is actually a string (since you can do the assignment) not a DateTime. In that case, the format applied won’t do anything. You’ll want to parse the LastUpdatedTime into a DateTime then reformat into the format that you want before assigning it to your string.

DateTime lastUpdated = DateTime.Parse( mergeSubscription.SynchronizationAgent.LastUpdatedTime );
HUD.LastSyncDate = string.Format( "{0:G}", lastUpdated );

public static string LastSyncDate { get; set; }

Note that you may need to use ParseExact instead.

DateTime lastUpdated = DateTime.ParseExact( "yyyyMMdd HH:mm:ss:fff",
                                            ...,
                                            CultureInfo.InvariantCulture );