DateTime.ParseExact FormatException String was not recognized as a valid DateTime

Question

I\'m completely stumped on this one. As far as I can see the documentation and other posts on SO I\'ve read say this should work. I must be missing something silly, but I ju

Answer 1

Does this work

 string myDate = "30-12-1899 07:50:00:AM";
DateTime dt1 = DateTime.ParseExact(myDate, "dd-MM-yyyy hh:mm:ss:tt", 
                                           CultureInfo.InvariantCulture)

Answer 2

string myDate = "30-12-1899 07:50:00:AM";
DateTime dt1 = DateTime.ParseExact(myDate, "dd-MM-yyyy HH:mm:ss:tt",  
                                           CultureInfo.InvariantCulture);

Note the use of HH (24-hour clock) rather than hh (12-hour clock), and the use of InvariantCulture because some cultures use separators other than slash.

For example, if the culture is de-DE, the format "dd/MM/yyyy" would expect period as a separator (31.01.2011).