date from different countries

[Darin]

I have an applicatoin that works 100% perfect when running on a machine
setup for English (United States), but when I change it to Spanish
(Mexico), the dates start giving me fits.

THe reason is USA is mm/dd/yyyy and mexico is dd/mm/yyyy. So, with the
computer set to mexico, any standard CDATE function is going to return
the date in the dd/mm/yyyy setting since that is what the computer is
set to.

I want to be able to enter a date in dd/mm/yyyy format but return a true
date, but in the format mm/dd/yyyy, similar to CDate. I don't want a
string, I want a real date.

I wrote a routine that changed the order to get it in the format, but it
is a string. When I then try to change it to a date, the Cdate routine
either changes the format or errors because it is trying to change the
format.

Dim junk As Date
Dim sjunk As String
junk = #1/1/1901#
Try
If Not IsDBNull(in_obj ect) Then
sjunk = DRStr(in_object )
If
System.Globaliz ation.DateTimeF ormatInfo.Curre ntInfo.ShortDat ePattern <>
"M/d/yyyy" Then
' not USA
Dim xpattern As String
xpattern =
System.Globaliz ation.DateTimeF ormatInfo.Curre ntInfo.ShortDat ePattern
If Mid(xpattern, 1, 1) = "d" Then
' day is first
Dim ddate As String
Dim xflds() As String
xflds = Split(DRStr(sju nk), "/")
ddate = xflds(1) & "/" & xflds(0) & "/" & xflds(2)
sjunk = ddate
End If
End If
junk = CDate(sjunk)
Else
junk = CDate(in_object )
End If
Catch oExcept As Exception
'ShowMessage(oE xcept.Message)
End Try
Return junk

The statement junk=cdate(sjun k) is what is changing the date back into
the global settings on the comptuer.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. I really wish CDate would allow
me to have an argument as the globalization settings allowing me to
force what setting I want the date to be. Don't forget, the FORMAT
command returns a string, not a date.

Thanks in advance.

Darin

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[Stephany Young]

Dates in different cultures can be a bit of a minefield.

As long as the year part of the date is entered with 4 digits then that part
is not generally an issue.

The problems arise when you need to analyse what the user has entered for
the day and month parts.

If the day part is 13 or greater then that is easily identifiable as the day
because months are only 1 to 12.

If the day part and the month part are the same then there is no problem
because 01/01/2006 is easily identifiable in either dd/MM/yyyy or MM/dd/yyyy
formats.

If the day part is 1 to 12 and it is not the same as the month part then you
have some issues. E.G. Is 01/02/2007 meant to represent the 1st of February
or the 2nd of January.

If the instruction to the user is to enter the date as dd/MM/yyyy (or
MM/dd/yyyy) regardless of culture then one can use:

Dim _d As DateTime = DateTime.ParseE xact(value, "dd/MM/yyyy")
' or MM/dd/yyyy as required

If the instruction to the user is to enter the date as per the culture of
the machine then one can use:

Dim _d As DateTime = DateTime.ParseE xact(value,
DateTimeFormatI nfo.CurrentInfo .ShortDatePatte rn)

Unfortunately, any given machine can have it's ShortDatePatter n set to a
different pattern than the default pattern for the culture of the machine.

One way of overcoming this issue is to pad the parts of the date string to
make sure the day and month parts are the expected length:

Dim _parts As String() = value.Split("/"c)
_parts(0) = Parts(0).PadLef t(2, "0")
_parts(1) = Parts(1).PadLef t(2, "0")
value = String.Join("." , _parts)

For value = "1/1/2007", value will be modified to "01/01/2007" which will
now work with:

Dim _d As DateTime = DateTime.ParseE xact(value, "dd/MM/yyyy")
"Darin" <darin_nospam@n ospameverwrote in message
news:ei******** ******@TK2MSFTN GP04.phx.gbl...

>I have an applicatoin that works 100% perfect when running on a machine
setup for English (United States), but when I change it to Spanish
(Mexico), the dates start giving me fits.

THe reason is USA is mm/dd/yyyy and mexico is dd/mm/yyyy. So, with the
computer set to mexico, any standard CDATE function is going to return
the date in the dd/mm/yyyy setting since that is what the computer is
set to.

I want to be able to enter a date in dd/mm/yyyy format but return a true
date, but in the format mm/dd/yyyy, similar to CDate. I don't want a
string, I want a real date.

I wrote a routine that changed the order to get it in the format, but it
is a string. When I then try to change it to a date, the Cdate routine
either changes the format or errors because it is trying to change the
format.

Dim junk As Date
Dim sjunk As String
junk = #1/1/1901#
Try
If Not IsDBNull(in_obj ect) Then
sjunk = DRStr(in_object )
If
System.Globaliz ation.DateTimeF ormatInfo.Curre ntInfo.ShortDat ePattern <>
"M/d/yyyy" Then
' not USA
Dim xpattern As String
xpattern =
System.Globaliz ation.DateTimeF ormatInfo.Curre ntInfo.ShortDat ePattern
If Mid(xpattern, 1, 1) = "d" Then
' day is first
Dim ddate As String
Dim xflds() As String
xflds = Split(DRStr(sju nk), "/")
ddate = xflds(1) & "/" & xflds(0) & "/" & xflds(2)
sjunk = ddate
End If
End If
junk = CDate(sjunk)
Else
junk = CDate(in_object )
End If
Catch oExcept As Exception
'ShowMessage(oE xcept.Message)
End Try
Return junk

The statement junk=cdate(sjun k) is what is changing the date back into
the global settings on the comptuer.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. I really wish CDate would allow
me to have an argument as the globalization settings allowing me to
force what setting I want the date to be. Don't forget, the FORMAT
command returns a string, not a date.

Thanks in advance.

Darin

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[Michel Posseth [MCP]]

Just use universal date ISO 8601 formats

YYYYMMDD YYYY-MM-DD

hhmmss hh:mm:ss
this should work on any system regardless of there local settings

regards

Michel

"Darin" <darin_nospam@n ospameverschree f in bericht
news:ei******** ******@TK2MSFTN GP04.phx.gbl...

>I have an applicatoin that works 100% perfect when running on a machine
setup for English (United States), but when I change it to Spanish
(Mexico), the dates start giving me fits.

THe reason is USA is mm/dd/yyyy and mexico is dd/mm/yyyy. So, with the
computer set to mexico, any standard CDATE function is going to return
the date in the dd/mm/yyyy setting since that is what the computer is
set to.

I want to be able to enter a date in dd/mm/yyyy format but return a true
date, but in the format mm/dd/yyyy, similar to CDate. I don't want a
string, I want a real date.

I wrote a routine that changed the order to get it in the format, but it
is a string. When I then try to change it to a date, the Cdate routine
either changes the format or errors because it is trying to change the
format.

Dim junk As Date
Dim sjunk As String
junk = #1/1/1901#
Try
If Not IsDBNull(in_obj ect) Then
sjunk = DRStr(in_object )
If
System.Globaliz ation.DateTimeF ormatInfo.Curre ntInfo.ShortDat ePattern <>
"M/d/yyyy" Then
' not USA
Dim xpattern As String
xpattern =
System.Globaliz ation.DateTimeF ormatInfo.Curre ntInfo.ShortDat ePattern
If Mid(xpattern, 1, 1) = "d" Then
' day is first
Dim ddate As String
Dim xflds() As String
xflds = Split(DRStr(sju nk), "/")
ddate = xflds(1) & "/" & xflds(0) & "/" & xflds(2)
sjunk = ddate
End If
End If
junk = CDate(sjunk)
Else
junk = CDate(in_object )
End If
Catch oExcept As Exception
'ShowMessage(oE xcept.Message)
End Try
Return junk

The statement junk=cdate(sjun k) is what is changing the date back into
the global settings on the comptuer.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. I really wish CDate would allow
me to have an argument as the globalization settings allowing me to
force what setting I want the date to be. Don't forget, the FORMAT
command returns a string, not a date.

Thanks in advance.

Darin

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[Cor Ligthert [MVP]]

Darin,

There is no #1-1-1900# or whatever that is the representation from the
debugger.

DateTimes are forever ticks starting at a not real moment (different for
dotNet and databases), which forever calculate the date and times based on
the culture settings of the user.

I prefer very often the CDate because it does a lot automatic.

Cor

"Darin" <darin_nospam@n ospameverschree f in bericht
news:ei******** ******@TK2MSFTN GP04.phx.gbl...

>I have an applicatoin that works 100% perfect when running on a machine
setup for English (United States), but when I change it to Spanish
(Mexico), the dates start giving me fits.

THe reason is USA is mm/dd/yyyy and mexico is dd/mm/yyyy. So, with the
computer set to mexico, any standard CDATE function is going to return
the date in the dd/mm/yyyy setting since that is what the computer is
set to.

I want to be able to enter a date in dd/mm/yyyy format but return a true
date, but in the format mm/dd/yyyy, similar to CDate. I don't want a
string, I want a real date.

I wrote a routine that changed the order to get it in the format, but it
is a string. When I then try to change it to a date, the Cdate routine
either changes the format or errors because it is trying to change the
format.

Dim junk As Date
Dim sjunk As String
junk = #1/1/1901#
Try
If Not IsDBNull(in_obj ect) Then
sjunk = DRStr(in_object )
If
System.Globaliz ation.DateTimeF ormatInfo.Curre ntInfo.ShortDat ePattern <>
"M/d/yyyy" Then
' not USA
Dim xpattern As String
xpattern =
System.Globaliz ation.DateTimeF ormatInfo.Curre ntInfo.ShortDat ePattern
If Mid(xpattern, 1, 1) = "d" Then
' day is first
Dim ddate As String
Dim xflds() As String
xflds = Split(DRStr(sju nk), "/")
ddate = xflds(1) & "/" & xflds(0) & "/" & xflds(2)
sjunk = ddate
End If
End If
junk = CDate(sjunk)
Else
junk = CDate(in_object )
End If
Catch oExcept As Exception
'ShowMessage(oE xcept.Message)
End Try
Return junk

The statement junk=cdate(sjun k) is what is changing the date back into
the global settings on the comptuer.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. I really wish CDate would allow
me to have an argument as the globalization settings allowing me to
force what setting I want the date to be. Don't forget, the FORMAT
command returns a string, not a date.

Thanks in advance.

Darin

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[Darin]

Thanks.

I entered in today's date (18/1/2007) and then used:

DateTime.ParseE xact(DRStr(in_o bject), "MM/dd/yyyy",
System.Globaliz ation.DateTimeF ormatInfo.Curre ntInfo)

and it received an error that the string isn't a valid date (my computer
is set for Spanish(Mexico) so the date is dd/mm/yyyy)

Any ideas.

Darin

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[Stephany Young]

Ummmmmm.... yeah!

18/1/2007 is clearly supposed to represent the 18th of January because 18 is
greater than the maximum number for month (12).

DateTime.ParseE xact(DRStr(in_o bject), "MM/dd/yyyy",
System.Globaliz ation.DateTimeF ormatInfo.Curre ntInfo)

specifies that the result of DRStr(in_object ) MUST be in MM/dd/yyyy format.
If it is not in that EXACT format then it will throw an exception (as you
have observed).

18/1/2007 is actually dd/M/yyyy format.

Note that everything I said in my previous post was in context of your
statement that you wouldb entering dates in dd/MM/yyyy format (3rd
paragraph, 1st sentence).

For that you need:

DateTime.ParseE xact(DRStr(in_o bject), "dd/MM/yyyy",
System.Globaliz ation.DateTimeF ormatInfo.Curre ntInfo)

Note that each placeholder in the format string means a digit, so dd means
01 and not 1 and MM means 01 and not 1. Thus 18/01/2007 matches dd/MM/yyyy
format whereas 18/1/2007 matches dd/m/yy format.
"Darin" <darin_nospam@n ospameverwrote in message
news:u$******** *****@TK2MSFTNG P04.phx.gbl...

Thanks.

I entered in today's date (18/1/2007) and then used:

DateTime.ParseE xact(DRStr(in_o bject), "MM/dd/yyyy",
System.Globaliz ation.DateTimeF ormatInfo.Curre ntInfo)

and it received an error that the string isn't a valid date (my computer
is set for Spanish(Mexico) so the date is dd/mm/yyyy)

Any ideas.

Darin

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[Darin]

But CDate won't work because it puts it in the format the computer is
set to and not the format I want it in.

Darin

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[Darin]

I guess I don't understand what the parseexact is to do, and the
documentation wasn't too much of a help. When I did the following with
18/1/2007, I got the last message to be 18/1/2007, which makes it look
like the datetime is putting it back to the global settings.

sjunk = DRStr(in_object )
If System.Globaliz ation.DateTimeF ormatInfo.Curre ntInfo.ShortDat ePattern
<"M/d/yyyy" Then
' not USA, create a string in USA format
Dim xpattern As String
xpattern =
System.Globaliz ation.DateTimeF ormatInfo.Curre ntInfo.ShortDat ePattern
If Mid(xpattern, 1, 1) = "d" Then 'd/m/y
' day is first
Dim ddate As String
Dim xflds() As String
xflds = Split(DRStr(sju nk), "/")
ddate = xflds(1) & "/" & xflds(0) & "/" & Mid(xflds(2), 1, 4)
'changed to m/d/y
sjunk = ddate
ShowMessage("A-" & sjunk) ' 1/18/2007
End If
End If
Dim format As New System.Globaliz ation.CultureIn fo("en-US", True)

ShowMessage("B-" & sjunk) ' 1/18/2007
ShowMessage("C-" & DRStr(DateTime. ParseExact(sjun k, "M/d/yyyy",
format))) ' 18/1/2007
Return DateTime.ParseE xact(sjunk, "M/d/yyyy", format)

Darin

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[Cor Ligthert [MVP]]

Darin,

I get more and more the idea that you want your Dates been showed in a way
that only people from the USA understand.

However there is no problem at all to do that.

Public Class Main
Public Shared Sub Main()
Threading.Threa d.CurrentThread .CurrentCulture = _
New Globalization.C ultureInfo("en-US")

MessageBox.Show (CDate("01-06-2004 11:59 PM").AddDays(1) .ToString)

'And set the culture back when it was not your own culture
Threading.Threa d.CurrentThread .CurrentCulture = _
Globalization.C ultureInfo.Inst alledUICulture
End Sub
End Class

Cor

[Darin]

Ok. I have a routine that accepts a date argument and needs a date
returned, but in true USA format.

public function USADate(in_date as date) As date
dim xout as date
Threading.Threa d.CurrentThread .CurrentCulture = _
New Globalization.C ultureInfo("en-US")

xout=cdate(in_d ate)

'And set the culture back when it was not your own culture
Threading.Threa d.CurrentThread .CurrentCulture = _
Globalization.C ultureInfo.Inst alledUICulture

return xout
end function

If I change the culture in the routine, and change it back, then return
a date, what date is it going to be, USA format or Mexico? I just need a
routine that can take any date format and return a date in true US
format so it can write it to the database correctly.

Darin

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