Binaryworld - Parsing and validating string dates ... [ VB.net -> Date-Time ]

If you have a string variable that should specify a date (asked in input to the user, for example), you can parse the string and get a Date variable by using the Date.Parse method. If the input string is not in a valid format, this method throws an exception though. Follows a routine that parses a string and sets a Date variable passed in input by reference, or returns False if the input string could not recognized as a valid date:

You can write similar functions for other data types of course.

Click here to copy the following block

' Set the input Date variable by parsing the input string
' Return true if the input string is not in a valid format
' Example:
' Dim testDate As Date
' If String2Date(testDate, "12/25/2002") = True Then
'    MessageBox.Show(testDate.ToLongDateString())
' Else
'    MessageBox.Show("Invalid input date string")
' End If
' If String2Date(testDate, "12/35/2002") = True Then
'    MessageBox.Show(testDate.ToLongDateString())
' Else
'    MessageBox.Show("Invalid input date string")
' End If

Function String2Date(ByRef retDate As Date, ByVal value As String) As Boolean
  Try
    retDate = Date.Parse(value)
    Return True
  Catch e As Exception
    Return False
  End Try
End Function

'//You can write similar functions for other data types of course.