System.FormatException: String was not recognized as a valid DateTime - when trying to convert MM/DD/YYYY

Question

I have following C# method:

DateTime ConvertStringToDate(string dateInString)
{
    try {
        //string SSD = dateInString;
        //DateTime date = Convert.ToDateTime(SSD);
        //string strDate = String.Format("{0:yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss.fff}", date);
        //return Convert.ToDateTime(strDate);

        return DateTime.ParseExact(dateInString, "MM/dd/yyyy", CultureInfo.InvariantCulture);
    }
    catch (Exception) { }
    return DateTime.Today;
} 

The code in comment is another way I tried before.

I am in India and developing an ASP.NET WebForms application for my client in US. On one of its forms my client will enter the date in TextBox like 6/20/2018 which is MM/dd/yyyy format.

But in both the ways I am getting this error: System.FormatException: 'String was not recognized as a valid DateTime.'

I tried many solutions on SO but none of them are working.

Solution 1

return DateTime.ParseExact(dateInString, "M/d/yyyy", CultureInfo.InvariantCulture);

Check it here

The difference between my answer and Fabulous' one is that I also shortened dd to d so if your user writes 6/6/2018 it will work too

Solution 2

Your date format is MM/dd/yyyy and your input doesn't match. It is M/dd/yyyy

Based on your comment, to solve the 6/1/2018 issue, you'll need to do it as follows M/d/yyyy

Solution 3

Your format string is missing the AM/PM deisgnator:

return DateTime.ParseExact
    (dateInString + " 12:00:00 AM", "MM/dd/yyyy hh:mm:ss tt", CultureInfo.InvariantCulture);
    // Here ---------------------------------------------^

Solution 4

Try without concatenation with string " AM"

Solution 5

I was getting the same exception a couple of days ago when it was 9th of July, I simply appended a 0 with 9 to match the date format.

Try appending a 0 in your month to match the MM in your date format

View more solutions

Comments

[Aishwarya Shiva]

@Rafalon Sorry I tried to test it using time. Forgot to remove it. It's also not working for date only.

[mjwills]

What is the exact value of dateInString? Don't guess, debug it and check.

[Rafalon]

MM/dd/yyyy format would require your date to be 06/20/2018 and still MM/dd/yyyy hh:mm:ss can't work for date-only strings

[Aishwarya Shiva]

@mjwills the value is 6/20/2018 when debugging.

[Rafalon]

Then how do you expect MM/dd/yyyy hh:mm:ss to match this?

[Aishwarya Shiva]

@Rafalon oh sorry i again forgot to remove the time from format. I tried only date too in the format before.

[Aishwarya Shiva]

Sorry I tried to test it using time. Forgot to remove it. It's also not working for date only.. See the update.

[Aishwarya Shiva]

Sorry I tried to test it using time. Forgot to remove it. It's also not working for date only. See the update.

[Dmitriy S]

You fill out MM/dd/yyyy but use this "MM/dd/yyyy hh:mm:ss" pattern

[Dmitriy S]

Try to use "MM/dd/yyyy" only

[Aishwarya Shiva]

Tried this format for "6/1/2018" but it's not working.

[Rafalon]

@AishwaryaShiva yes it does

[Fabulous]

@Rafalon after seeing the OP's comment and sorting this, I saw and upvoted your answer. I had not seen it when I was editing my original answer which referenced the time.

[mason]

@AishwaryaShiva Why would you ask that. Why wouldn't you just test it?

[Rafalon]

@mason I actually asked myself the same question as you did, especially since I included a link where you can basically change the input and hit "Execute"

[Aishwarya Shiva]

@mason I was actually in a hurry. So read the answer without noticing the link and the example. ;)