C# Time Formatting. Localization to French how do I get the output "5h 45" for 5:45?

Question

I'm attempting to format dates for a French customer.

I need to format Times as shown in the following examples...

06:00 -> 6 h
08:45 -> 8 h 45
10:30 -> 10 h 30
15:00 -> 15 h
17:22 -> 17 h 22
18:00 -> 18 h

I've been able to use Custom Date and Time Formatting. But I seem to be stuck on this notation that the French (Canadian at least) don't show the Minutes if they are zero "00".

Currently I'm using the following format.

myDateTime.ToString("H \h mm")

How can I make it so "mm" only appears when > 00?

I'd like to avoid the use of an extension method of proxy class since I feel this should be built into the framework. Apparently its standard formatting for French times.

My string "H \h mm" is actually coming from a resource file. ie...

myDateTime.ToString(Resources.Strings.CustomTimeFormat);

Thanks!

Answer 1

It might not be pretty but if they insist

if (Locality == france)
myDateTime.ToString(Resources.Strings.CustomTimeFormat).Replace("00","") ;
else 
myDateTime.ToString(Resources.Strings.CustomTimeFormat);

Answer 2

Following on code4life's extension method idea, here's an extension method. =p

public static string ToCanadianTimeString(this DateTime source)
{
    if (source == null)
        throw new ArgumentNullException("source");

    if (source.Minute > 0)
        return String.Format("{0:hh} h {0:mm}", source);

    else
        return String.Format("{0:hh} h", source);
}

Answer 3

Here is the solution I'm going with:

public static string ToStringOverride(this DateTime dateTime, string format)
{
    // Adjust the "format" as per unique Culture rules not supported by the Framework
    if (CultureInfo.CurrentCulture.LCID == 3084) // 3084 is LCID for fr-ca
    {
        // French Canadians do NOT show 00 for minutes.  ie.  8:00 is shown as "8 h" not "8 h 00"
        if (dateTime.Minute == 0)
        {
            format = format.Replace("mm", string.Empty);
        }
    }

    return dateTime.ToString(format);
}

It will at least work for different DateTime formats such as...

• H \h mm
• dddd d MMMM yyyy H \h mm tt

The idea here is I modify the FormatString to remove "mm" if minutes are zero. Still letting the framework do the hard work.