The Unknown Exception DateTime C#

Question

The data that I am sending to convertStringToDataSet function is

<NewDataSet>\r\n  <Table ID="Table1">
       \r\n
       <PATNAME>Doe,JaneN</PATNAME>\r\n
       <LEVEL>175</LEVEL>\r\n
       <WHEN>2007-09-13T23:00:00.0000000-05:00</WHEN>\r\n
       <NOTE>New 180-day low -- ALERT: loss of 11.6 % in 123 days</NOTE>\r\n
       <IS_BAD>32</IS_BAD>\r\n
       <NAME>202a</NAME>\r\n
       <ID>2459</ID>\r\n
       <LASTNAME>Doe</LASTNAME>\r\n
       <FIRSTNAME>Jane</FIRSTNAME>\r\n
       <MIDDLENAME>N</MIDDLENAME>\r\n
      </Table>\r\n  <Table ID="Table2">
       \r\n
       <PATNAME>Face,SmileyE</PATNAME>\r\n
       <LEVEL>124</LEVEL>\r\n
       <WHEN>2007-10-16T23:00:00.0000000-05:00</WHEN>\r\n
       <NOTE>New 180-day low -- ALERT: loss of 14.5 % in 86 days</NOTE>\r\n
       <IS_BAD>32</IS_BAD>\r\n
       <NAME>101b</NAME>\r\n
       <ID>2736</ID>\r\n
       <LASTNAME>Face</LASTNAME>\r\n
       <FIRSTNAME>Smiley</FIRSTNAME>\r\n
       <MIDDLENAME>E</MIDDLENAME>\r\n
      </Table>\r\n</NewDataSet>

private DataSet convertStringToDataSet(string xmlString)
     {
      // Search for datetime values of the format 
      // --> 2004-08-22T00:00:00.0000000-05:00
      string rp = @"(?\d{4}-\d{2}-\d{2})(?T\d{2}:\d{2}:\d{2}.\d{7}-)(?\d{2})(?:\d{2})";
      // Replace UTC offset value

      string fixedString = Regex.Replace( xmlString, rp, new MatchEvaluator( getHourOffset ) );

      DataSet dataSet = new DataSet();
      StringReader stringReader = new StringReader( fixedString );
      dataSet.ReadXml( stringReader );

      return dataSet;
     }

     private static string getHourOffset( Match m )
     {
      // Need to also account for Daylights Savings 
      // Time when calculating UTC offset value
      string Date=m.Result( "${date}" );
      DateTime dtLocal = DateTime.Parse( m.Result( "${date}" ) );
      DateTime dtUTC = dtLocal.ToUniversalTime();
      int hourLocalOffset = dtUTC.Hour - dtLocal.Hour;
      int hourServer = int.Parse( m.Result( "${hour}" ) );
      string newHour = ( hourServer + ( hourLocalOffset - 
       hourServer ) ).ToString( "0#" );
      string retString = m.Result( "${date}" + "${time}" +
       newHour + "${last}" );

      return retString;
     }

The Exception That I am getting The string was not recognized as a valid DateTime. There is a unknown word starting at index 2.

Answer 1

Have you debugged it and put a breakpoint there to verify that the string you get is actually the string you expect it to be?

Also, this:

m.Result( "${date}" )

Where is that group defined?

I would split up the extraction of the Regex found value into a string, then convert it. This would allow you to place a breakpoint in there and inspect the value found.

Answer 2

DateTime.Parse will try all kinds of different patterns. Assuming you've got an explicit format in mind, I would use DateTime.ParseExact - that way you know what it's looking for.

And as lassevk's said, look at the string before you try to parse it.