How can i tell my controller/model what kind of culture it should expect for parsing a datetime?
I was using some of this post to implement jquery datepicker into my mvc application.
When i submit the date it gets "lost in translation" i'm not using the US formatting for the date, so when it gets sent to my controller it simply becomes null.
I have a form where the user chooses a date:
@using (Html.BeginForm("List", "Meter", FormMethod.Get))
{
@Html.LabelFor(m => m.StartDate, "From:")
<div>@Html.EditorFor(m => m.StartDate)</div>
@Html.LabelFor(m => m.EndDate, "To:")
<div>@Html.EditorFor(m => m.EndDate)</div>
}
I've made an edit template for this, to implement the jquery datepicker:
@model DateTime
@Html.TextBox("", Model.ToString("dd-MM-yyyy"), new { @class = "date" })
I then create the datepicker widgets like this.
$(document).ready(function () {
$('.date').datepicker({ dateFormat: "dd-mm-yy" });
});
All this works fine.
Here is where the problems start, this is my controller:
[HttpGet]
public ActionResult List(DateTime? startDate = null, DateTime? endDate = null)
{
//This is where startDate and endDate becomes null if the dates dont have the expected formatting.
}
This is why i would like to somehow tell my controller what culture it should expect? Is my model wrong? can i somehow tell it which culture to use, like with the data annotation attributes?
public class MeterViewModel {
[Required]
public DateTime StartDate { get; set; }
[Required]
public DateTime EndDate { get; set; }
}
Edit: this link explains my issue and a very good solution to it aswell. Thanks to gdoron
you can change the default model binder to use the user culture using IModelBinder
public class DateTimeBinder : IModelBinder
{
public object BindModel(ControllerContext controllerContext, ModelBindingContext bindingContext)
{
var value = bindingContext.ValueProvider.GetValue(bindingContext.ModelName);
var date = value.ConvertTo(typeof(DateTime), CultureInfo.CurrentCulture);
return date;
}
}
And in the Global.Asax write:
ModelBinders.Binders.Add(typeof(DateTime), new DateTimeBinder());
ModelBinders.Binders.Add(typeof(DateTime?), new DateTimeBinder());
Read more at this excellent blog that describe why Mvc framework team implemented a default Culture to all users.