Converting Java Date string into C# DateTime [duplicate]

Question

Possible Duplicate:
Parse DateTime with timezone of form PST/CEST/UTC/etc

OK, I have following code in Java that converts my Date object into String:

SimpleDateFormat dateFormat = new SimpleDateFormat("yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss zzz");
String str = dateFormat.format(new Date());
// outputs: 2012-12-17 15:44:57 CST

I am sending that String over the wire to WebService written in C#. So, how would I parse back that String into valid DateTime considering that following doesn't work because zzz in C# is different:

DateTime.ParseExact(parts[2], "yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss zzz", CultureInfo.InvariantCulture.DateTimeFormat);

And before anyone suggests it - I know I can go with UTC time, but I need to do it this way.

Any ideas?

Why do you need to do it this way? When calling the web service why not convert the date to whatever format you want? — Dave Zych
– Dave Zych, Commented Dec 17, 2012 at 22:02

Oded · Accepted Answer · 2012-12-17 22:03:11Z

2

CST is not a valid .NET timezone identifier.

In .NET, these are all numeric offsets - +0700, -0500 etc...

You will need to output a numeric timezone offset if you want it to be parsed by .NET.

I suggest using yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss Z in Java, as can be seen here.

The alternative is to convert CST to -0600 using string.Replace, but this is both not scalable and can fall over with the ambiguities of named timezones (CST can mean different timezones depending on where you are).

edited Dec 17, 2012 at 22:03

answered Dec 17, 2012 at 21:55

Oded

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3 Comments

nikib3ro Over a year ago

You obviously haven't read this part: "So, how would I parse back that String into valid DateTime considering that following doesn't work because zzz in C# is different"

Oded Over a year ago

@kape123 - You either change the Java to use Z instead of zzz or, in C# convert the named timezones to their numeric equivalents (though the named timezones are ambiguous)

nikib3ro Over a year ago

Didn't know about Z - thanks! So Z on Java side, zzz on C# side and it works perfectly.

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