ASP.NET 2.0 All-In-One Desk Reference For Dummies®

Chapter 2. Manipulating Dates and Times

In This Chapter

✓	Getting the current date and time anywhere on the planet
✓	Reading the components of a DateTime structure
✓	Streaming a DateTime structure
✓	Handling local times versus universal times
✓	Calculating with dates
✓	Parsing a string containing a date and time

The .NET Framework includes a DateTime structure that stores and manipulates — you guessed it — dates and times. With .NET 2.0, the DateTime structure has improved a bit, adding further support for handling time zones. For example, suppose you have an application that grabs the current date and time, which is stored in a DateTime variable. The application then sends the DateTime off to another computer via the Internet, and that other computer is in another time zone. The receiving computer can take the data in the DateTime structure, recognize the time zone, and then adjust the value so it’s correct for the new time zone.

In this chapter, I cover various aspects of the DateTime structure.

All code listings used in this book are available for download at www.dummies.com/go/aspnetaiofd.

Getting the Current Date and Time

The DateTime structure contains a handy static or shared property for obtaining the current date and time. The property is simply called Now. Because it’s a property, you call it from the DateTime structure itself — and this property is available regardless of which .NET language ...