find current moscow time using c#

Question

I'm trying to get local Moscow time in my .NET application.

Here is how far I went:

private static Dictionary<TimeZoneEnum, string> timeZoneDict = new Dictionary<TimeZoneEnum, string>()
{
    {TimeZoneEnum.RussiaStandardTime, "Russian Standard Time"}
};

public static DateTime GetDateTimeNowForTimeZone(TimeZoneEnum timezone)
{
    DateTime result = TimeZoneInfo.ConvertTime(DateTime.UtcNow, TimeZoneInfo.FindSystemTimeZoneById(timeZoneDict[timezone]));
    return result;
}

Method GetDateTimeNowForTimeZone gives me GMT+3 time but now in russia there is GMT+4 time. Is there anyu way to get robust solution for this issue in .net framework ?

Answer 1

You need to patch your system. On my system (Windows 7 with all updates installed) it gives the correct time:

DateTime.UtcNow.Dump();
TimeZoneInfo.ConvertTime(DateTime.UtcNow, TimeZoneInfo.FindSystemTimeZoneById("Russian Standard Time")).Dump();

output:

17/12/2013 09:11:08
17/12/2013 13:11:08

Microsoft has released an update a while ago to accomodate Russian DST law changes, you obviously don't have it.

*Dump() is an extension method provided by LINQPad. Equivalent of Console.WriteLine(<...>.ToString())

Answer 2

I think this issue will get resolved with a patch by Microsoft. They update the timezones periodically.

As far as I know for now all you can do is +1 the time.

Of course you could also go down the path of some web time service and request the time from it.