ASP.Net MVC model binding - how to change date format?

Question

I have this application, and the default date format must be dd/MM/yyyy (the language is Brazilian Portuguese).

I already had set culture and UI culture to pt-BR and now myDate.ToShortDateString() returns the dates as I want. I have no trouble displaying them.

The problem is, when the user fills an input field with a date such as 17/08/2011 and submits the form the DateTime parameter to my action becomes null. If I supply a date in the format 08/17/2011, it works fine.

How can I make the ASP.Net MVC model binding to parse my dates correctly?

Answer 1

I found what happended. My form was posting via GET method, and the MVC just uses the culture for an action parameter when it's passed in the RouteData or by the form via POST method.

I just changed the form to POST method and it worked.

Answer 2

Try this on your property in the view model:

[DisplayFormat(ApplyFormatInEditMode = true, DataFormatString = "{0:dd/MM/yyyy}")]

Answer 3

I'm pretty sure the issue is a lack of a DateTimeFormat on your DateTime types.

<input type="text" name="DateProperty" id="DateProperty"
       value="@(Model.DateProperty.Value.ToString("d",
             System.Threading.Thread.CurrentThread.CurrentUICulture.DateTimeFormat))" />

EDIT**

Another thing you want to be sure of is that the "name" property of your input element matches what you're passing into your action. If it doesn't null will appear on POST action every time.

     [HttpPost]
     public ActionResult DoStuff(string dateParam)
     {
       return RedirectToAction("Home","Index", new { });
     }

"dateParam" Should match the name property here.

<input id="dateParam" name="dateParam" value="10/10/2010" />