Question

I need to Display the Time In my GridView taking Data from Database.
I have the Time in the Format

2012-03-07 11:51:45.000

How can I show the DateTime In the following way Like Gmail Does?

If it is Todays Date the Time Should be displayed. Or else The Date Should be Displayed in this Format.

Can you Help Me?

Answer 1

Create a function in code behind that will cast your DateTime to the required format, and then render it using TemplateField.

Code:

protected string GetCustomDateFormat(object dateTimeObj)
{
    DateTime dateTime = (DateTime)dateTimeObj;

    if (dateTime.Date == DateTime.Today)
    {
        return dateTime.ToString("hh:mm tt", CultureInfo.InvariantCulture);
        //This Gives the Time in the Format (ex: 8:30 PM)

        //return dateTime.ToShortTimeString();
        // or you can specify format: dateTime.ToString("t")
    }
    else
    {
        return dateTime.ToShortDateString();
        // or you can specify format: dateTime.ToString("m")
    }
}

Markup:

<asp:GridView ID="GridView1" runat="server" ...
    <Columns>
        ...
        <asp:TemplateField HeaderText="Header text here">
             <ItemTemplate>
                 <%# this.GetCustomDateFormat(Eval("DateTimeFieldName")) %>
             </ItemTemplate>
        </asp:TemplateField>
        ...
    </Columns>
</asp:GridView>