Format DateTime in Xamarin Forms to Device Format string
With the current Xamarin Forms version, you may try:
// This does not work with PCL
var date1 = DateTime.Now.ToShortDateString();
This gives the date in a format specific to the device's locale and works across platforms.
Alternatively:
var date1 = DateTime.Now.ToString(CultureInfo.CurrentUICulture.DateTimeFormat.ShortDatePattern);
For specific format the following can be tried:
var date1 = DateTime.Now.ToString("dd-MM-yyyy");
The first and the last one look pretty cool to me. But only the second and the third options work with PCL.
As I could not find any PCL implementation I used DI to implement the requirement.
Usage in PCL :
DependencyService.Get<IDeviceInfoService>()?.ConvertToDeviceTimeFormat(DateTime.Now);
DependencyService.Get<IDeviceInfoService>()?.ConvertToDeviceTimeFormat(DateTime.Now);
PCL :
public interface IDeviceInfoService
{
string ConvertToDeviceShortDateFormat(DateTime inputDateTime);
string ConvertToDeviceTimeFormat(DateTime inputDateTime);
}
Android :
[assembly: Dependency(typeof(DeviceInfoServiceImplementation))]
namespace Droid.Services
{
public class DeviceInfoServiceImplementation : IDeviceInfoService
{
public string ConvertToDeviceShortDateFormat(DateTime inputDateTime)
{
var dateFormat = Android.Text.Format.DateFormat.GetDateFormat(Android.App.Application.Context);
var epochDateTime = Helper.ConvertDateTimeToUnixTime(inputDateTime, true);
if (epochDateTime == null)
{
return string.Empty;
}
using (var javaDate = new Java.Util.Date((long)epochDateTime))
{
return dateFormat.Format(javaDate);
}
}
public string ConvertToDeviceTimeFormat(DateTime inputDateTime)
{
var timeFormat = Android.Text.Format.DateFormat.GetTimeFormat(Android.App.Application.Context);
var epochDateTime = Helper.ConvertDateTimeToUnixTime(inputDateTime, true);
if (epochDateTime == null)
{
return string.Empty;
}
using (var javaDate = new Java.Util.Date((long)epochDateTime))
{
return timeFormat.Format(javaDate);
}
}
}
}
iOS :
[assembly: Dependency(typeof(DeviceInfoServiceImplementation))]
namespace iOS.Services
{
public class DeviceInfoServiceImplementation : IDeviceInfoService
{
public string ConvertToDeviceShortDateFormat(DateTime inputDateTime)
{
var timeInEpoch = Helper.ConvertDateTimeToUnixTime(inputDateTime);
if (timeInEpoch == null)
{
return string.Empty;
}
using (var dateInNsDate = NSDate.FromTimeIntervalSince1970((double)timeInEpoch))
{
using (var formatter = new NSDateFormatter
{
TimeStyle = NSDateFormatterStyle.None,
DateStyle = NSDateFormatterStyle.Short,
Locale = NSLocale.CurrentLocale
})
{
return formatter.ToString(dateInNsDate);
}
}
}
public string ConvertToDeviceTimeFormat(DateTime inputDateTime)
{
var timeInEpoch = Helper.ConvertDateTimeToUnixTime(inputDateTime);
if (timeInEpoch == null)
{
return string.Empty;
}
using (var dateInNsDate = NSDate.FromTimeIntervalSince1970((double)timeInEpoch))
{
using (var formatter = new NSDateFormatter
{
TimeStyle = NSDateFormatterStyle.Short,
DateStyle = NSDateFormatterStyle.None,
Locale = NSLocale.CurrentLocale
})
{
return formatter.ToString(dateInNsDate);
}
}
}
}
}
Windows :
[assembly: Dependency(typeof(DeviceInfoServiceImplementation))]
namespace WinPhone.Services
{
public class DeviceInfoServiceImplementation : IDeviceInfoService
{
public string ConvertToDeviceShortDateFormat(DateTime inputDateTime)
{
return inputDateTime.ToShortDateString();
}
public string ConvertToDeviceTimeFormat(DateTime inputDateTime)
{
return inputDateTime.ToShortTimeString();
}
}
}
Helper method :
private static readonly DateTime EpochDateTime = new DateTime(1970, 1, 1, 0, 0, 0, DateTimeKind.Utc);
public static long? ConvertDateTimeToUnixTime(DateTime? date, bool isDatarequiredInMilliSeconds = false, DateTimeKind dateTimeKind = DateTimeKind.Local) => date.HasValue == false
? (long?)null
: Convert.ToInt64((DateTime.SpecifyKind(date.Value, dateTimeKind).ToUniversalTime() - EpochDateTime).TotalSeconds) * (isDatarequiredInMilliSeconds ? 1000 : 1);