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Converting string into datetime

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Posted on by Lowaiy Baghdadi

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It seems simple thing but it's not happening... Basically I wanna import a text file (CSV) and the date field it comes with this format (mm/dd/yyyy h:mm) i.e. (4/7/2014 0:00). So, I've tried to use the datetime function but it returns with null! The code is something like this:

str strMyDate;

utcDateTime MyDate;

;

strMyDate = '10/17/2014 0:00';

MyDate = str2datetime(strMyDate,213);

info("MyDate"+datetime2str(MyDate));

Note that MyDate is coming null! Any idea on this? Thanks!

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Community Member on at

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I think issue is with date string format

it should be

myDate = '10/17/2014 0:00:00';

in your case it is

strMyDate = '10/17/2014 0:00';

so the time format is not good enough

it should be HH:MM:SS

please try following job

static void Job19(Args _args)

{

str myDate;

utcDateTime MyDateTime;

myDate = '10/17/2014 0:00:00';

myDateTime = str2datetime(myDate, 213);

info(strfmt("Mydate %1", myDateTime));

}

Please verify and let me know if this information helps you

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Kumar Gaurav @ MS on at

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alternatively if you want to initialize date you can directly do this,

date myDate = 17\10\2014;

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Martin Dráb 237,803 Most Valuable Professional on at

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If you have to deal with custom formats, use DateTime.ParseExact() through .NET Interop:

System.Globalization.CultureInfo culture = System.Globalization.CultureInfo::get_InvariantCulture(); utcDateTime dt = System.DateTime::ParseExact( '10/17/2014 0:00', 'MM/dd/yyyy H:mm', culture);

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Lowaiy Baghdadi 655 on at

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Well, since the time part is not coming in a regular format, I tried to cut it from the text using strReplace function. I know it's not recommended, but it does the job!

str strMyDate;
date MyDate;

strMyDate = '4/7/2014 0:00';
strMyDate = strReplace(strMyDate,' 0:00','');
MyDate = str2Date(strMyDate,213);

info("MyDate"+date2str(MyDate),213));

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Lowaiy Baghdadi 655 on at

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Martrin,

I tried your .Net Interop but the compiler stops and exists after the last line! I tried to add info(datetime2str(dt)); in the next the line but it never continues to the info line!

System.Globalization.CultureInfo culture ;

utcDateTime dt ;

;

culture = System.Globalization.CultureInfo::get_InvariantCulture();

dt = System.DateTime::ParseExact('10/17/2014 0:00','MM/dd/yyyy',culture);

info(datetime2str(dt));

info("");

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Martin Dráb 237,803 Most Valuable Professional on at

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It 's because the value (10/17/2014 0:00) isn't compatible with the format ("MM/dd/yyyy") and a format exception is thrown. Follow my example exactly if you want it to work.

Unfortunately the default exception handler doesn't show .NET exceptions in infolog, you have to explicitly catch them by yourself. For example:

try { … } catch (Exception::CLRError) { throw error(AifUtil::getClrErrorMessage()); }

You could also use TryParseExact(), which returns true or false instead of throwing the exception. Nevertheless you should still wrap all .NET Interop code in try/catch because you may get other exceptions as well.

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Lowaiy Baghdadi 655 on at

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Thanks a lot Martin, I followed your instructions and it works like a charm! Try, Catch is able now to catch the exceptions and error them out!

Thanks again!

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khadar shaik 55 on at

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Hi Martin,

I want to assign System.DateTime value as NULL in some condition.

How it Can be?

Ex: System.DateTime dateTime;

dateTime = dateNull();

but here dateNull() is not compitable with this parameter.

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Vilmos Kintera 46,149 on at

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Please open a new thread for your question and avoid hijacking other threads, since it is only loosely related to the original topic.

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