Hot to change the default datetime date, of app hosted on cloud server side to match a GMT+1, in ASP.NET Core?

Question

The problem

I have hosted a Razor pages web app on a cloud server which happens to be on GMT-8 and when I save data is uses the server side time. The client side datetime is on GMT+1.

Question

How can I change the default datetime value inside the app, so that it matches the client side?

I mean that when I use DateTime.Today, it should use the GMT+1 automatically (I don't want to use .AddHours(+9) because it causes problems in data viewing)

Further explanation

The server helpdesk, advises us that to make this possible I have to insert the code below, somewhere in the app, but I don't know where.

Is there a simpler or better way to do this, without javascript, with just C#?

The code suggested by server's helpdesk:

<script language="C#" runat="server">
protected DateTime GetCurrentTime()
{
    DateTime serverTime = DateTime.Now;
    DateTime _localTime = TimeZoneInfo.ConvertTimeBySystemTimeZoneId(serverTime, TimeZoneInfo.Local.Id, "Central Europe Standard Time");
    return _localTime;
} 

protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
    Response.Write(GetCurrentTime());
}
</script>

I know. But, this is exacty what they put on their FAQ page. I just copy/pasted the code, literally. — Fillo, Feb 27 '23 at 13:27
If you want your host (server) to use GMT+1, I believe that's something you'd have to configure **on the server** - not in your app — marc_s, Feb 27 '23 at 13:30
See this [response here](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/8589014/how-to-change-time-zone-for-an-asp-net-application) - basically it says: *Sorry there is no way in .NET to change the time zone globally.* — marc_s, Feb 27 '23 at 13:32

score 0 · Answer 1 · answered Feb 27 '23 at 13:39

By seeing that there is no straight way to do this. I managed to find a workaround, it is a bit longer but the result is the same.

All i had to do was, replace (on each page of the app front/backend):

@Datetime.today...,

with

@DateTime.UtcNow.Date...

Hope it helps.

Nitin Sawant · Answer 2 · 2023-02-27T13:51:57.550

You can use NodaTime library to convert current time in any timezone,
just pass current server universal time to this method:

public DateTime ConvertToTimeZoneFromUtc(DateTime utcDateTime, string timezone= "Asia/Kolkata")
{
    var easternTimeZone = DateTimeZoneProviders.Tzdb[timezone];
    return Instant.FromDateTimeUtc(utcDateTime)
                    .InZone(easternTimeZone)
                    .ToDateTimeUnspecified();
}

usage:

string zoneID = "Asia/Kolkata";
var date = ConvertToTimeZoneFromUtc(DateTime.Now.ToUniversalTime(), zoneID);

here's list of possible zone IDs: https://nodatime.org/TimeZones

Ref: https://blog.nitinsawant.com/2021/02/c-get-current-time-in-any-timezone.html

Hot to change the default datetime date, of app hosted on cloud server side to match a GMT+1, in ASP.NET Core?

2 Answers2