FormatException while converting string to DateTime

Question

My task is to retrieve data from XML file. Every node in XML file contains date and time. To read and convert it I'm using the following:

date = DateTime.ParseExact(turnoNode.SelectSingleNode("FechaHoraAlta").InnerText, "dd/MM/yyyy hh:mm:ss", CultureInfo.InvariantCulture);

For the first two nodes it converts dates correctly:

<FechaHoraAlta>19/04/2012 10:00:36</FechaHoraAlta>
<FechaHoraAlta>19/04/2012 11:00:05</FechaHoraAlta>

The problem occurs for the third node containing:

<FechaHoraAlta>22/04/2012 19:37:52</FechaHoraAlta>

Then FormatException exception is thrown saying that string was not recognized as a valid DateTime.

I tried to debug it, all I know is that it gets InnerText correctly, it's "22/04/2012 19:37:52". It just cannot convert it, but I have no idea why.

I saw a lot of similar problems here on stackoverflow, but so far I haven't found any proper solution.

Does someone know what the problem can be?

Thank you in advance.

Answer 1

Look at your format pattern:

"dd/MM/yyyy hh:mm:ss"

"hh" means a twelve hour clock, usually in conjunction with "tt" for the AM/PM designator. So 19 isn't a valid value. You want "HH" instead of "hh", as "HH" uses the 24 hour clock.

See MSDN on custom date and time format strings for more information.