String to date parsing error “String was not recognized as a valid DateTime.”

Question

In my property below I m parsing string to datetime.

public virtual string StartTimeLocal
{
    set { StartTime = DateTime.Parse(value).ToUTCDateTime(); }
}

Just checked in value I have 26/1/2014 02:17 PM

Can you please help me what wrong I m doing and how to correct it ?

Answer 1

DateTime.Parse parses standart date and time formats . Your string is not one of them.

You can use DateTime.TryParseExact or DateTime.ParseExact methods instead.

string s = "26/1/2014 02:17 PM";
DateTime dt;
if(DateTime.TryParseExact(s, "dd/M/yyyy hh:mm tt", 
                          CultureInfo.GetCultureInfo("en-US"), 
                          DateTimeStyles.None, out dt))
{
   Console.WriteLine(dt);
}
else
{
   //Your string is not a valid DateTime.
}

Answer 2

Your input is formatted using en-US culture settings, so you should either make sure your application runs on system with local culture set to en-US or specify culture explicitly:

public virtual string StartTimeLocal
{
    set { StartTime = DateTime.Parse(value, CultureInfo.GetCultureInfo("en-US")).ToUTCDateTime(); }
}

Answer 3

Try the below:

CultureInfo provider = CultureInfo.InvariantCulture;
format = "dd/MM/yyyy hh:mm tt";
result = DateTime.ParseExact(dateString, format, provider);