Why is my ASP.Net Date Format Changing Erratically?

Question

I have an asp.net 4.0 Formview bound to a SqlDataSource, hosted on IIS7, and I'm displaying a date for editing like this:

<input id="OrderDateTextBox" type="text" value='<%# Eval("OrderDate", "{0:d}") %>' />

This generally works as expected, but occasionally the date format displays d/m/y instead of m/d/y. When this happens, a page refresh will show the correct date format.

So far I've tried setting the default culture in web.config like this:

<globalization enableClientBasedCulture="false" culture="en-US" uiCulture="en-US" />

I've also tried setting the culture on initialization:

protected override void InitializeCulture()
{
    UICulture = "en-US";
    Culture = "en-US";
    Thread.CurrentThread.CurrentCulture =
        CultureInfo.CreateSpecificCulture("en-US");
    Thread.CurrentThread.CurrentUICulture =
        new CultureInfo("en-US");

    base.InitializeCulture();
}

Neither of those methods seem to have any effect. However, if I pull in the value by using the following syntax the date format is correct all the time:

<%# DateTime.Parse(Eval("OrderDate").ToString()).ToString("d", CultureInfo.CreateSpecificCulture("en-US")) %>

But that shouldn't be necessary. Thanks for any help.

Are you certain these are random? Anything in common to the occurrences you have seen? — Oded
– Oded, Commented Oct 8, 2010 at 18:31
Well, it seems to occur after periods of inactivity, maybe after the session expires? — Walter
– Walter, Commented Oct 8, 2010 at 19:06

ChessWhiz · Accepted Answer · 2010-10-08 22:52:39Z

1

Instead of using {0:d} and depending on the culture to format the date, you can try forcing the date into the formatting you wish. Example:

<%# Eval("OrderDate", "{0:MM/dd/yyyy}") %>

answered Oct 8, 2010 at 22:52

ChessWhiz

4,7223 gold badges29 silver badges40 bronze badges

Sign up to request clarification or add additional context in comments.

2 Comments

Walter Over a year ago

That works! I'd still like to know why it's necessary to do this, just in case the culture is affecting other settings as well, but this helps. Thanks!

ChessWhiz Over a year ago

I'm not an expert on .NET culture changes, but I do know how to format dates. Glad this helped you!

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

Why is my ASP.Net Date Format Changing Erratically?

1 Answer 1

2 Comments

Your Answer

Hot Network Questions

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

1 Answer 1

2 Comments

Your Answer

Sign up or log in

Post as a guest

Related