how to use DateTime.Parse() to create a DateTime object

Question

If I have a string that is in the format yyyyMMddHHmmssfff for example 20110815174346225. how would I create a DateTime object from that String. I tried the following

DateTime TimeStamp = DateTime.Parse(Data[1], "yyyyMMddHHmmssfff");

However I get these errors:

Error   1   The best overloaded method match for 'System.DateTime.Parse(string, System.IFormatProvider)' has some invalid arguments C:\Documents and Settings\rkelly1\Desktop\sd\WindowsFormsApplication1\WindowsFormsApplication1\Form1.cs 67  29  WindowsFormsApplication1


Error   2   Argument 2: cannot convert from 'string' to 'System.IFormatProvider'    C:\Documents and Settings\rkelly1\Desktop\sd\WindowsFormsApplication1\WindowsFormsApplication1\Form1.cs 67  53  WindowsFormsApplication1

Answer 1

var sDate = "20110815174346225";
var oDate = DateTime.ParseExact(sDate, "yyyyMMddHHmmssfff", CultureInfo.CurrentCulture);

Answer 2

You would have to use

DateTime time = DateTime.ParseExact(String,String, IFormatProvider);

The first argument string is going to be your date. The second argument string is going to be your format The third argument is your culture info (which is the IFormatProvider

So you would have

DateTime TimeStamp = DateTime.ParseExact(Data[1],"yyyyMMddHHmmssfff",CultureInfo.InvariantCulture);

The culture info is "A CultureInfo object that represents the culture used to interpret s. The DateTimeFormatInfo object returned by its DateTimeFormat property defines the symbols and formatting in s." From MSDN.

here's the link for more info. http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/kc8s65zs.aspx

Answer 3

Use DateTime.ParseExact:

DateTime dateTime = DateTime.ParseExact("[Your Date Here]",
                                        "yyyyMMddHHmmssfff",  
                                        CultureInfo.InvariantCulture);

Here's the MSDN Docs.