DateTime.ToString("MM/dd/yyyy") inside linq threw an error

Question

DateTime.ToString("MM/dd/yyyy") inside linq is throwing an error. Here is my code:

public IEnumerable<EmployeeViewModel> GetAllEmployees()
{
    List<EmployeeViewModel> vm = (
        from a in db.Employees
        select new EmployeeViewModel
        {
            EmployeeId = a.EmployeeId,
            EmployeeName = a.EmployeeName,
            HiredDateString = a.HiredDateTime.ToString("MM/dd/yyyy"),
            HiredTimeString = a.HiredDateTime.ToString("h:mm tt"),
            Description= a.Description
            }).ToList();
    return vm;
}

EDIT: HiredDateString and HiredTimeString are strings inside the ViewModel.

For which I got following error:

<Error>
<Message>An error has occurred.</Message>
<ExceptionMessage>
LINQ to Entities does not recognize the method 'System.String ToString(System.String)' method, and this method cannot be translated into a store expression.
</ExceptionMessage>
<ExceptionType>System.NotSupportedException</ExceptionType>

If I simply use: a.HiredDateTime.ToString() it won't throw an error. But it gives me full DateTime string; I want to get date and time strings separately. Thank you so much for the help.

Is `a.HiredDateTime` a `DateTime` or a `string`? Looks like it could be a `string` — Bob Kaufman, Jun 09 '18 at 01:07
Why do you want to store dates as strings? that's always bad idea. If you want to display them a certain way, do it in the view layer — Nick.Mc, Jun 09 '18 at 01:14

hakantopuz · Answer 1 · 2020-12-09T11:21:26.607

4

You can't datetime format in linq expression.You should take this:

HiredDateString = a.HiredDateTime,

and you should format this data when show.

For example in razor page:

foreach (var item in vm )
            {
                @item.HiredDateString.ToString("MM/dd/yyyy")
            }

edited Dec 09 '20 at 11:21

answered Jun 09 '18 at 01:12

hakantopuz

481
5
11

I found the solution: I just missed .ToList() or .AsEnumerable() As I did db.Employees.AsEnumerable() , it worked as expected. – Bigyan Chapagain Jun 09 '18 at 10:48
1

Some rando just marked my question duplicate. But by no means its a duplicate one. Also down-voted it. These so called 'experts' never let new-comer to do something good. Clearly, deep down, they want to stifle new comers. – Bigyan Chapagain Jun 11 '18 at 04:43

DateTime.ToString("MM/dd/yyyy") inside linq threw an error

1 Answers1