inconsistent date formats from calendar control

sheridan · March 23rd, 2006, 12:50 PM

I am getting inconsistent date formats from the ASP.Net calendar control. Sometimes when I click the button I get "3/30/2006 12:00:00 AM" sometimes I get "30/03/2006 00:00:00". This is breaking my code. I have reproduced the problem in the code below (this demonstrates the problem it is not the code I want to use in real life). It does not occur on my development machine just on the production server.

<%@ Page Language="vb" AutoEventWireup="false" Codebehind="testdate.aspx.vb" Inherits="WebApplication1.testdate"%>
<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
<HTML>
    <HEAD>
        <title>testdate</title>
        <meta name="GENERATOR" content="Microsoft Visual Studio .NET 7.1">
        <meta name="CODE_LANGUAGE" content="Visual Basic .NET 7.1">
        <meta name="vs_defaultClientScript" content="JavaScript">
        <meta name="vs_targetSchema" content="http://schemas.microsoft.com/intellisense/ie5">
    </HEAD>
    <body MS_POSITIONING="GridLayout">
        <form id="Form1" method="post" runat="server">
            <asp:Calendar id="TestVisitDate" runat="server" BorderColor="Blue" FirstDayOfWeek="Monday">
                <SelectorStyle BackColor="#C0C0FF"></SelectorStyle>
                <DayStyle BackColor="White"></DayStyle>
                <NextPrevStyle BackColor="#C0C0FF"></NextPrevStyle>
                <DayHeaderStyle ForeColor="White" BackColor="CornflowerBlue"></DayHeaderStyle>
                <SelectedDayStyle BackColor="#FFFF80"></SelectedDayStyle>
                <TitleStyle BackColor="#C0C0FF"></TitleStyle>
                <OtherMonthDayStyle BackColor="#E0E0E0"></OtherMonthDayStyle>
            </asp:Calendar>
            <asp:Button id="Button1" onclick="setdates" runat="server" text="Search By Date"></asp:Button>
            <asp:Label id="VisitDate_Label" runat="server" Visible="True" />
        </form>
    </body>
</HTML>

Public Class testdate
    Inherits System.Web.UI.Page
    Dim VisitDate_value
    Protected WithEvents Button1 As System.Web.UI.WebControls.Button
    Protected WithEvents VisitDate_Label As System.Web.UI.WebControls.Label
    Protected WithEvents TestVisitDate As System.Web.UI.WebControls.Calendar

#Region " Web Form Designer Generated Code "

    'This call is required by the Web Form Designer.
    <System.Diagnostics.DebuggerStepThrough()> Private Sub InitializeComponent()

    End Sub

    'NOTE: The following placeholder declaration is required by the Web Form Designer.
    'Do not delete or move it.
    Private designerPlaceholderDeclaration As System.Object

    Private Sub Page_Init(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles MyBase.Init
        'CODEGEN: This method call is required by the Web Form Designer
        'Do not modify it using the code editor.
        InitializeComponent()
    End Sub

#End Region

    Private Sub Page_Load(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles MyBase.Load
        'Put user code to initialize the page here
    End Sub
    Sub setdates(ByVal Sender As Object, ByVal E As EventArgs)

        VisitDate_Label.Text = TestVisitDate.SelectedDate.ToString()

    End Sub

End Class

rstelma · March 23rd, 2006, 03:07 PM

Hi Sheridan,

Ran your code on my server and could not get the foul date formats that you are getting.

I'm using the ASP:Calendar control in many places in one app I'm doing and it has never gotten any other format than "mm/dd/yyyy". I am using it in a search function as well but I never search with the long date format. I don't know if that's critical to your app or not.

I use "calDate.SelectedDate.ToShortDateString" and write that date to a form textbox that then gets posted.

So far your code is working on your box and mine (Server 2000) but not on your production server. Sounds like it could be something whacky on the server but you probably already know that.

Wish I was of more help.

Good luck.
Richard

sheridan · March 24th, 2006, 05:56 AM

Thanks Richard
With your help I have fixed the problem.
I am using VisitDate.SelectedDate.ToLongDateString() which gives me a consistent date in a format I can use without changing lots of code.
I think I have also found out why it only happens on the production server and that is because there is an old version of the .net framework installed on the server. My development machine has a newer version and I do not get the problem.