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Using C#, I need to convert incoming datetime values into UTC. I know there is functionality in .NET for these conversions but all I have to identify the timezone is the standard timezone list
http://www.timegenie.com/timezones
What's the best way to do this in .NET? Will I need to create a mapping table to convert the timezones to the IDs in TimeZoneInfo.GetSystemTimeZones() (e.g. "Pacific Standard Time (Mexico)") so that I can then use TimeZoneInfo.FindSystemTimeZoneById()?
Thanks for any help
405
The ToUniversalTime method converts a DateTime value from local time to UTC. To convert the time in a non-local time zone to UTC, use the TimeZoneInfo. ConvertTimeToUtc(DateTime, TimeZoneInfo) method. To convert a time whose offset from UTC is known, use the ToUniversalTime method.
ToUniversalTime() Method in C# This method is used to convert the value of the current DateTime object to Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). Syntax: public DateTime ToUniversalTime ();
ConvertTime(DateTimeOffset, TimeZoneInfo) method that performs time zone conversions with ToOffset(TimeSpan) values. The method's parameters are a DateTimeOffset value and a reference to the time zone to which the time is to be converted. The method call returns a DateTimeOffset value.
To do this, we will use the FindSystemTimeZoneById() of TimeZoneInfo class. This function takes Id as a parameter to return the equivalent time in timezone passed. In the example below, we are taking the current system time and converting it into “Central Standard Time”. DateTime currentTime = TimeZoneInfo.
DateTime.ToUniversalTime Method
Or
DateTime.UtcNow Property
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I've done it before by storing the timezone id in the database using a mapping table. i.e. A table containing the results of TimeZone.GetSystemTimeZones()
You don't actually need to use TimeZoneInfo.FindSystemTimeZoneById() though: you can do the conversion using one of the overloads of TimeZoneInfo.ConvertTimeBySystemTimeZoneId(). This method has some overloads which take DateTime values, and some that take DateTimeOffset values (which are preferable as they specify an unambiguous point in time).
e.g.
TimeZoneInfo.ConvertTimeBySystemTimeZoneId(DateTime.Now, "New Zealand Standard Time", "UTC")
The real benefit of using the system time zone id rather than an offset stored in the database is that daylight savings time is automatically handled for you by TimeZoneInfo.ConvertTimeBySystemTimeZoneId.
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There is a lot of information on MSDN about converting to different time zones.
You probably want to use ConvertTimeBySystemTimeZoneId method (follow link for examples).
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