How to validate the DateTime of MM/dd/yyyy hh:mm format?

Question

I am using MaskedEditExtender for entering a datetime. I am unable to figure out how to validate it.

Is there any Regular Expression for validating dates along with

Answer 1

Use DateTime.Parse or DateTime.TryParse (there are also ParseExact and TryParseExact equivalents).

If the string does not represent a valid DateTime it will not parse.

DateTime myDateTime = DateTime.ParseExact(myString, 
                                          "MM/dd/yyyy hh:mm", 
                                          CultureInfo.InvariantCulture);

The above will throw an exception if the value is not parseable. Use the Try variant if you want to avoid the chance of the exception being thrown - this requires an out parameter and testing the return value of the function for success.