Question

It seems that the .net DateTime object defaults to whatever format the computer is set to. As I’m from the UK, this means that the DateTime object is DD/MM/YYYY.

This, typically, is fine, but I’m trying to use the DateTime object to put the current time in on a record submission on an Access database. Access (or SQL in general, don’t really know) requires that the date is formatted in a MM/DD/YYYY format.

Is there a way I can have the DateTime object just format the date in the MM/DD/YYYY format, or am I going to have to convert to string, switch the string around, and insert that?

Answer 1

If you are inserting into a database don’t use a Date String. Use a Parameter Object and give the Value the date object.

for access

string mystatment = "Insert into TableName (column1, datecolumn) values (?,?)"

OleDbCommand cmd = conn.CreateCommand();
cmd.Commandtext = mystatement;
cmd.Parameters.AddWithValue("@column1", mycolumn1variable);
cmd.Parameters.AddWithValue("@datecolumn", yourDateTimeVariable);

if you are properly doing this with production code make sure you have exception handling etc.

using (OleDbConnection conn = new OleDbConnection("connection string"))
{
    using (OleDbCommand cmd = conn.CreateCommand())
    {
        cmd.CommandText = "Insert into TableName (column1, datecolumn) values (?,?)";

        OleDbParameter param;
        param = new OleDbParameter("name",  OleDbType.VarChar, 36); // if you know the size of the column specify it
        param.Value = mycolumn1variable;
        cmd.Parameters.Add(param);

        param = new OleDbParameter("mydate", OleDbType.Date); // if you know the size of the column specify it
        param.Value = yourDateTimeVariable;
        cmd.Parameters.Add(param);

        conn.Open();
        cmd.ExecuteNonQuery(); //etc
    }
}

for sql you use the named @parameters instead of the ? in your statement and use a SqlCommand instead.

If it’s for screen display, repect the users settings and format based on their culture.