How to format the value in a strongy typed view when using ASP.Net MVC's Html.TextBoxFor

Question

I am trying to format a date rendered by ASP.Net MVC's TextBoxFor using the value of a strongly typed view. The date is nullable so if it is null I want to see a blank value, otherwise I want to see it in the format MM/dd/yyyy.

<%= Html.TextBoxFor(model => model.BirthDate, new { style = "width: 75px;" })%>

Thanks,
Paul Speranza

Answer 1

Have you tried just passing in the date format that you'd like?

Html.TextBoxFor(model => model.BirthDate.ToString("MM/dd/yyyy"), 
                new { style = "width: 75px;" })

Answer 2

You can use this attribute

[DisplayFormat(ApplyFormatInEditMode = true, DataFormatString = "{0:MM/dd/yyyy}",NullDisplayText="")] public DateTime? BirthDate { get; set; }

Answer 3

Have you tried to force the culture of your current thread application? You can override it in the web.config using this line (in the tag) :

<!-- Default resource files are set here. The culture will also change date format, decimal, etc... -->
<globalization enableClientBasedCulture="false" culture="en-US" uiCulture="en-US"/>

Answer 4

First, add this extension for getting property path:

public static string GetPropertyPath<TEntity, TProperty>(Expression<Func<TEntity, TProperty>> property)
{                       
     Match match = Regex.Match(property.ToString(), @"^[^\.]+\.([^\(\)]+)$");
     return match.Groups[1].Value;
}

Than add this extensions for HtmlHalper:

public static MvcHtmlString DateBoxFor<TEntity>(
            this HtmlHelper helper,
            TEntity model,
            Expression<Func<TEntity, DateTime?>> property,
            object htmlAttributes)
        {
            DateTime? date = property.Compile().Invoke(model);

            // Here you can format value as you wish
            var value = date.HasValue ? date.Value.ToShortDateString() : string.Empty;
            var name = ExpressionParseHelper.GetPropertyPath(property);

            return helper.TextBox(name, value, htmlAttributes);
        }

Also you should add this jQuery code:

$(function() {
    $("input.datebox").datepicker();
});

datepicker is a jQuery plugin.

And now you can use it:

 <%= Html.DateBoxFor(Model, (x => x.Entity.SomeDate), new { @class = "datebox" }) %>

Answer 5

It's a dirty hack, but it seems to work.

<%= Html.TextBoxFor(model => model.SomeDate,
    new Dictionary<string, object> { { "Value", Model.SomeDate.ToShortDateString() } })%>

You get the model binding, and are able to override the HTML "value" property of the text field with a formatted string.

Answer 6

A simple solution is to not use the strongly typed helper.

<%= Html.TextBox("StartDate", string.Format("{0:d}", Model.StartDate)) %>