Format DateTime in Xamarin Forms to Device Format string

Question

How can I format a DateTime object to a string in the device default datetime format when running a PCL Xamarin.Forms project and my deployement targets include iOS, Android and Windows.

The DateTime.ToShortString() doesn't work as per MSDN requirement according to this thread and this bug .

Is there any Forms based solution or do I need to get it from platform specific projects?

For Android, I can do the following from Native project using DI:

String format = Settings.System.GetString(this.context.ContentResolver 
                                         , Settings.System.DateFormat);
string shortDateString = dateTime.ToString(format);

OR I can use this too (the C# version of the below code):

DateFormat dateFormat = android.text.format.DateFormat.getDateFormat(context);

Look into this SO question to understand the requirement more clearly (its only for android, I want it for all platforms as this is a Xamarin.Forms question).

Since the DatePicker and TimePicker in Xamarin Forms show the date and time in device format I am hoping there would a way to get it in the PCL.

Also there is a Device class in PCL which has information like platforms, idiom, etc.

Answer 1

As I could not find any PCL implementation I used DI to implement the requirement.

Usage in PCL :

DependencyService.Get<IDeviceInfoService>()?.ConvertToDeviceTimeFormat(DateTime.Now);    
DependencyService.Get<IDeviceInfoService>()?.ConvertToDeviceTimeFormat(DateTime.Now);

PCL :

public interface IDeviceInfoService
{
    string ConvertToDeviceShortDateFormat(DateTime inputDateTime);    
    string ConvertToDeviceTimeFormat(DateTime inputDateTime);
}

Android :

[assembly: Dependency(typeof(DeviceInfoServiceImplementation))]
namespace Droid.Services
{
    public class DeviceInfoServiceImplementation : IDeviceInfoService
    {
        public string ConvertToDeviceShortDateFormat(DateTime inputDateTime)
        {
            var dateFormat = Android.Text.Format.DateFormat.GetDateFormat(Android.App.Application.Context);
            var epochDateTime = Helper.ConvertDateTimeToUnixTime(inputDateTime, true);

            if (epochDateTime == null)
            {
                return string.Empty;
            }

            using (var javaDate = new Java.Util.Date((long)epochDateTime))
            {
                return dateFormat.Format(javaDate);
            }
        }

        public string ConvertToDeviceTimeFormat(DateTime inputDateTime)
        {
            var timeFormat = Android.Text.Format.DateFormat.GetTimeFormat(Android.App.Application.Context);
            var epochDateTime = Helper.ConvertDateTimeToUnixTime(inputDateTime, true);

            if (epochDateTime == null)
            {
                return string.Empty;
            }

            using (var javaDate = new Java.Util.Date((long)epochDateTime))
            {
                return timeFormat.Format(javaDate);
            }
        }
    }
}

iOS :

[assembly: Dependency(typeof(DeviceInfoServiceImplementation))]
namespace iOS.Services
{
    public class DeviceInfoServiceImplementation : IDeviceInfoService
    {
        public string ConvertToDeviceShortDateFormat(DateTime inputDateTime)
        {
            var timeInEpoch = Helper.ConvertDateTimeToUnixTime(inputDateTime);

            if (timeInEpoch == null)
            {
                return string.Empty;
            }

            using (var dateInNsDate = NSDate.FromTimeIntervalSince1970((double)timeInEpoch))
            {
                using (var formatter = new NSDateFormatter
                {
                    TimeStyle = NSDateFormatterStyle.None,
                    DateStyle = NSDateFormatterStyle.Short,
                    Locale = NSLocale.CurrentLocale
                })
                {
                    return formatter.ToString(dateInNsDate);
                }
            }
        }

        public string ConvertToDeviceTimeFormat(DateTime inputDateTime)
        {
            var timeInEpoch = Helper.ConvertDateTimeToUnixTime(inputDateTime);

            if (timeInEpoch == null)
            {
                return string.Empty;
            }

            using (var dateInNsDate = NSDate.FromTimeIntervalSince1970((double)timeInEpoch))
            {
                using (var formatter = new NSDateFormatter
                {
                    TimeStyle = NSDateFormatterStyle.Short,
                    DateStyle = NSDateFormatterStyle.None,
                    Locale = NSLocale.CurrentLocale
                })
                {
                    return formatter.ToString(dateInNsDate);
                }
            }
        }
    }
}

Windows :

[assembly: Dependency(typeof(DeviceInfoServiceImplementation))]
namespace WinPhone.Services
{
    public class DeviceInfoServiceImplementation : IDeviceInfoService
    {
        public string ConvertToDeviceShortDateFormat(DateTime inputDateTime)
        {
            return inputDateTime.ToShortDateString();
        }

        public string ConvertToDeviceTimeFormat(DateTime inputDateTime)
        {
            return inputDateTime.ToShortTimeString();
        }
    }
}

Helper method :

private static readonly DateTime EpochDateTime = new DateTime(1970, 1, 1, 0, 0, 0, DateTimeKind.Utc);
public static long? ConvertDateTimeToUnixTime(DateTime? date, bool isDatarequiredInMilliSeconds = false, DateTimeKind dateTimeKind = DateTimeKind.Local) => date.HasValue == false
            ? (long?)null
            : Convert.ToInt64((DateTime.SpecifyKind(date.Value, dateTimeKind).ToUniversalTime() - EpochDateTime).TotalSeconds) * (isDatarequiredInMilliSeconds ? 1000 : 1);

Answer 2

With the current Xamarin Forms version, you may try:

// This does not work with PCL
var date1 = DateTime.Now.ToShortDateString();

This gives the date in a format specific to the device's locale and works across platforms.

Alternatively:

var date1 = DateTime.Now.ToString(CultureInfo.CurrentUICulture.DateTimeFormat.ShortDatePattern);

For specific format the following can be tried:

var date1 = DateTime.Now.ToString("dd-MM-yyyy");

The first and the last one look pretty cool to me. But only the second and the third options work with PCL.

Answer 3

Very similar to Rohit Vipin Mathews answer but without using helper methods.

For Android

public class DeviceServiceImplementation : IDeviceInfoService
{
    public string FormatTime(DateTime dateTime)
    {
        return DateUtils.FormatDateTime(Application.Context, (long) dateTime.ToUniversalTime()
            .Subtract(DateTime.UnixEpoch).TotalMilliseconds, FormatStyleFlags.ShowTime);
    }
}

For iOS

public class DeviceServiceImplementation : IDeviceInfoService
{
    public string FormatTime(DateTime dateTime)
    {
        using var nsDateFormatter = new NSDateFormatter
        {
            DateStyle = NSDateFormatterStyle.None,
            TimeStyle = NSDateFormatterStyle.Short,
            FormattingContext = NSFormattingContext.Standalone,
            Locale = NSLocale.CurrentLocale
        };
        return nsDateFormatter.StringFor(dateTime.ToNSDate()
            .AddSeconds(-1 * NSTimeZone.SystemTimeZone.GetSecondsFromGMT));
    }
}