How to get user-selected date format in Android?

Question

I have been working on problem of date format selected by users in the Android Phone. I have gone through almost many question and answers on the stackoverlow and havent got the perfect answer. For example:- I have selected dateformat in phone is "Sat, 31 Dec 2011" But when I used as based question answered on stackoverflow:-

DateFormat df = android.text.format.DateFormat.getDateFormat(context.getApplicationContext());
tv.setText(df.format(date));

Above code returns me 06/08/2011 (mm/dd/yyyy) format. But see the date format i selected on phone. How can i get the exact format?

Answer 1

In an application I'm currently developing I use the following, which I believe will do what you require

final String format = Settings.System.getString(getContentResolver(), Settings.System.DATE_FORMAT);
if (TextUtils.isEmpty(format)) {
  dateFormat = android.text.format.DateFormat.getMediumDateFormat(getApplicationContext());
} else {
  dateFormat = new SimpleDateFormat(format);
}

Answer 2

The DateFormat.getDateFormat works as expected. It returns one of three possible formats:

1. MM/DD/YYYY
2. DD/MM/YYYY
3. YYYY/MM/DD

I'm not sure how you set your "Sat, 31 Dec 2011" format, but as far as I know stock Android allows to set only one of three mentioned formats (Settings -> Date and Time -> Select Date Format).