Question

In my model, the field Length is a TimeSpan with the following Data Annotation:

[DisplayFormat(ApplyFormatInEditMode = true, DataFormatString = "{h\\:mm}")]

which I used per the suggestion here. I want the resulting textbox to display the current value for Length in hours and minutes.

However, in MVC 3 this doesn’t seem to work anymore, because it causes a FormatException. This exception occurs whether or not Length has an existing value.

Visual Studio adds, “When converting a string to DateTime, parse the string to take the date before putting each variable into the DateTime object.” I don’t even know what that means. My variable is a TimeSpan, not a string, so why is it attempting to do a string conversion in the first place? The dialog box reporting the exception gives a dead link.

This is the code in my view:

    <div class="editor-label">
        @Html.LabelFor(model => model.Length)
    </div>
    <div class="editor-field">
        @Html.EditorFor(model => model.Length)
        @Html.ValidationMessageFor(model => model.Length)
    </div>

The exception occurs at Html.EditorFor(). I’m not sure what I’m missing here, does anyone have any suggestions? Thanks!

Answer 1

Your format specifier needs the position identifier:

{0:h\\:mm}