How do I convert a date format from multiple formats to a standard format

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HI Guys

I am currently experiencing some trouble on my production box.

On my dev and UAT i have not had this issue but i do have this issue on the production server

I am running a import file service which collects files from an FTP location and imports into the db.

When i import the data i am getting an error
Conversion from string "1/25/2017 7:59:26 AM" to type 'Date' is not valid

I am not too sure what the issue could be

What I have tried:

Currently i am reading the data from an array and then using the following code to convert the date to a standard format
Dim importeddate as datetime
ImportedDate = CDate(fields(Count))
Dim FormattedDate As String = ImportedDate.ToString("dd/MM/yyyy HH:mm:ss")

I have also tried using datetime.parse(fields(count).tostring)

Posted 26-Jan-17 12:14pm

IsiR_19

Updated 26-Jan-17 16:54pm

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Midi_Mick · Answer 1 · 2017-01-26T12:57:00

There are two things here. Firstly, when reading a date, the system will use your system's local formats to interpret it. I notice the date being imported is in the US format (M/dd/yyyy), where you are outputting in the British format (dd/MM/yyyy). If your system uses the British format, then it will fail when reading any US date where the day is greater than 12, and will get it wrong in all other cases.

The 2nd thing is that you should probably use the DataTime.TryParse method to parse the date. This will return true/false based on success or failure, rather than throwing an exception.

As such, I would be looking at using the DateTime.TryParse Method (String, IFormatProvider, DateTimeStyles, DateTime) (System)[^], that allows you to specify the culture that the string format of the date comes from, and does not throw an exception on failure.

Peter Leow · Answer 2 · 2017-01-26T16:54:00

If you have control over the input of the datetime data, you can use CultureInfo.InvariantCulture Property (System.Globalization)[^] in the conversion.
Learn more from Avoid common globalization errors in .NET[^].
If not, you have to know the format of the datetime data that you are receiving before any meaningful parsing. Otherwise, no amount of parsing, even if it passes, can promise you that it is the correct datetime that you think you are getting.

How do I convert a date format from multiple formats to a standard format

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