Override DateTime.MinValue

Question

I am using Datetime.Minvalue which return 1.1.0001. This value can not be stored to DB because year is smaller than 1975.

Is it possible to override DateTime.Minvalue to 1.1.1901?

Regards

Answer 1

No, it's not. You could instead use SqlDateTime.MinValue (1753-01-01), define your own constant for 1901-01-01 if that's what you want to use, or actually use a nullable DateTime:

DateTime? dateVal = null;

In the instance where no date is specified, a null may make more sense and persist DBNull.Value to the database instead of a "special" value like you're currently doing.

Or, as a final option....at the point you come to persist to the database, do a check for DateTime.MinValue and switch in an alternative. But I'd recommend the nullable DateTime.

Answer 2

You should use nullable DateTime for such a thing.

Answer 3

No, it's a static field, and those can't be overridden.

You will need to write a Guard or conversion of some sort

Answer 4

No. Since DateTime.MinValue is a static, there is no simple means to override. I would suggest replacing DateTime.MinValue with a constant, or in your data access code, convert DateTime values equal to DateTime.MinValue to 1900-01-01.

Answer 5

what about using a method for this

DateTime GetMinDateTime()
{
   return DateTime.MinValue.AddYears(900);
}

Answer 6

If you're only coding for Microsoft SQL Server you can substitue System.DateTime for System.Data.SqlTypes.SqlDateTime. If I have understood correctly, the System.Data.SqlTypes data types are directly compatible with the database data types, which avoids the situation you encountered.