Question

I try to convert string to datetime but each time I get :

String was not recognized as a valid DateTime.

Code is:

string format = "dd/MM/yyyy";

obj.TransDate = DateTime.ParseExact(lbl_TransDate.Text.Split('/')[0] + "/" + lbl_TransDate.Text.Split('/')[1] + "/" + lbl_TransDate.Text.Split('/')[2], format, CultureInfo.InvariantCulture);

When I debug the date which I try to parse it is : 12/4/2012

Answer 1

The desired format is

string format = "dd/M/yyyy";

I don’t understand a thing though, why split an concatenate the string, since you would obtain the same thing?

If the input is 12/4/2012, after the split by ‘/’, you’ll get 12, 4, 2012 and then concatenate them back to obtain “12/4/2012”. Why this?

Also, if you really need that split, you can store in into an array so you don’t need to split it 3 times:

var splits = lbl_TransDate.Text.Split('/');
DateTime.ParseExact(splits[0] + "/" + splits[1] + "/" + splits[2], ...);

If you don’t trust the input, the splits array might not be of Length = 3, and more of it, you can use DateTime.TryParseExact

EDIT You can use the overload with multiple formats
So if the input might be 12/4/2012 or 12/04/2012, you can give both formats

var formats = new[] {"dd/M/yyyy","dd/MM/yyyy"};
var date = DateTime.ParseExact("12/4/2012", formats, 
                                        System.Globalization.CultureInfo.InvariantCulture,
                                        System.Globalization.DateTimeStyles.AssumeLocal);