Timezone Conversion - C#

Question

I am looking to convert this time: Mon, 25 03 2013 00:00:00 GMT into US EST. I know that this has been posted before here:Time zone conversion in C# but I am still getting errors having to do something with the string not being exactly right.

Here is my code:

var dateString = "Mon, 25 03 2013 00:00:00 GMT";
var date = Convert.ToDateTime(dateString);
var result = TimeZoneInfo.ConvertTime(date, TimeZoneInfo.FindSystemTimeZoneById("US Eastern Standard Time"));
Console.WriteLine(result);

Here is my error:

Unhandled Exception: System.FormatException: String was not recognized as a valid DateTime.
at System.DateTime.Parse (System.String s, IFormatProvider provider, DateTimeStyles styles) [0x00000] in :0 
at System.DateTime.Parse (System.String s, IFormatProvider provider) [0x00000] in :0 
at System.DateTime.Parse (System.String s) [0x00000] in :0

at System.Convert.ToDateTime (System.String value) [0x00000] in :0 at Program.Main () [0x00000] in :0

I have tried changing the date from 03 to Mar but I was unable to even get that to work. I have also tried the code in the other forum just to see if that even worked, but I was unsuccessful. I fully understand what the code is trying to do, but I just don't understand why there are errors being thrown.

Any help would be much appreciated! Thanks!

Much of what you described here is just repeating what you already asked in your other question. I don't see any question here about time zone conversion, so I'm voting to close. — Matt Johnson-Pint, Jul 09 '13 at 21:04
Your code is working on my machine. I just copied and try to run it successfully executed :) — Sachin, Jul 09 '13 at 21:05
Have you tried using this overload of DateTime.Parse:http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/w2sa9yss.aspx? — auujay, Jul 09 '13 at 21:07
Also, the time zone id you are looking for is just `"Eastern Standard Time"`. Drop the `"US "` from the front of it. — Matt Johnson-Pint, Jul 09 '13 at 21:08
@MattJohnson: If at first SO doesn't solve your problem for you, just ask ask again. :\ — Michael Bray, Jul 09 '13 at 21:13
@MattJohnson I felt that it was a little different than what was being previously asked before. Sorry for the repeat though. — scapegoat17, Jul 09 '13 at 21:14
Did you try my answer from your other question? If it doesn't work, please comment there. When I suggested you ask separately for the timezone issues, I didn't mean for you to repeat the whole parsing problem again. — Matt Johnson-Pint, Jul 09 '13 at 21:15
@MattJohnson I did not realize that is what you meant. I will hop back to the other forum. My apologies... I do really appreciate the help though. — scapegoat17, Jul 09 '13 at 21:22

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered Jul 09 '13 at 21:04

1

Try parsing your date string to something like this:

 DateTime date = DateTime.ParseExact(datestring, "ddd dd MMM yyyy h:mm tt zzz", CultureInfo.InvariantCulture);

answered Jul 09 '13 at 21:04

Jack Marchetti

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score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Jul 09 '13 at 21:04

0

var dateString = "Mon, 25 03 2013 00:00:00 GMT";

should be this:

var dateString = "Mon, 25 Mar 2013 00:00:00 GMT";

EDIT: Fixed month.

answered Jul 09 '13 at 21:04

Th3BFG

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I have tried this already. No dice. – scapegoat17 Jul 09 '13 at 21:16
Shucks, I thought it was just going to be something simple for you! – Th3BFG Jul 09 '13 at 21:17

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Jul 09 '13 at 21:09

0

If the string will ALWAYS end in GMT then you can use ParseExact:

var dateString = "Mon, 25 03 2013 00:00:00 GMT";
var date = DateTime.ParseExact(dateString,
                               "ddd, dd MM yyyy hh:mm:ss GMT", 
                               CultureInfo.InvariantCulture);
var result = TimeZoneInfo.ConvertTime(date, TimeZoneInfo.FindSystemTimeZoneById("US Eastern Standard Time"));

answered Jul 09 '13 at 21:09

D Stanley

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I do not really understand what you are doing with `CultureInfo.InvariantCulture` but it went away when i changed that to `null`. Even still both throw errors for me. – scapegoat17 Jul 09 '13 at 21:16
`CultureInfo.InvariantCulture` is used to specify an unchanging (not customizable) culture that is not specific to any one region. It uses English month and day names. Did you change `Convert.ToDateTime` to `DateTime.ParseExact`? – D Stanley Jul 09 '13 at 21:27
okay, I understand and yes I did change it – scapegoat17 Jul 09 '13 at 21:28
So what error are you getting now? – D Stanley Jul 09 '13 at 21:48

Timezone Conversion - C#

3 Answers3