How do I use try/check for DateTime to prevent Server Error?

Question

I'm attempting to write a try/catch, and failing obviously. I'm not sure I fully understand try/catch, but I do know that I'm having troubles wrapping my head around what I would need to happen in order to verify that a correct date is being entered submit via form. I mean, I gather it needs to be in DateTime format, not string, and should be (MM/dd/yyyy), but this try/check thing is throwing me for a loop.

Instructions: Go back to the validation code that you added in the frmPersonnel code and add a try/catch with logic to prevent an invalid date from causing a server error.

Code:

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Web;
using System.Web.UI;
using System.Web.UI.WebControls;

public partial class frmPersonnel : System.Web.UI.Page
{
    protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
    {
        btnSubmit.Click += new EventHandler(this.btnSubmit_Click);//event for button
    }

    private void btnSubmit_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
    {
//DECLARATIONS
        int count = 0;
        string Msg = "You must enter a value in the following fields: <br/>  ";
        Boolean validatedState = true;
        Boolean validateEntry = false;
        DateTime endDate = new DateTime(2016, 03, 01);
        DateTime startDate = new DateTime(2016, 03, 01);


//BEGIN SERIES OF IF/ELSE FOR CONFIRMING ENTRIES         
        if (Request["txtFirstName"].ToString().Trim() == "")
            {
            //displays yellow bg for missing input
            txtFirstName.BackColor = System.Drawing.Color.Yellow;
            Msg = Msg + "First Name <br/> ";
            }//endif
        else
        {
            txtFirstName.BackColor = System.Drawing.Color.White; 
            count += 1;
        }//end else

        if (Request["txtLastName"].ToString().Trim() == "")
        {
            //displays yellow bg for missing input
            txtLastName.BackColor = System.Drawing.Color.Yellow;
            Msg = Msg + "Last Name <br/> ";
        }//endif
        else
        {
            txtFirstName.BackColor = System.Drawing.Color.White; 
            count += 1;
        }//end else

        if (Request["txtPayRate"].ToString().Trim() == "")
        {
            //displays yellow bg for missing input
            txtPayRate.BackColor = System.Drawing.Color.Yellow;
            Msg = Msg + "Pay Rate <br/>  ";
         }//endif
        else
        {
            txtFirstName.BackColor = System.Drawing.Color.White; 
            count += 1;
        }//end else

        if (Request["txtStartDate"].ToString().Trim() == "")
        {
            //displays yellow bg for missing input
            txtStartDate.BackColor = System.Drawing.Color.Yellow;
            validateEntry = false;
            Msg = Msg + "Start Date <br/>  ";
        }//endif
        else
        {
            try
                {
                //Conversion to DateTime format?
                startDate = DateTime.Parse(Request["txtStartDate"]);
                //How do I write the format I want, and when it should be checked?
                }
            catch (Exception ex)
                {
                //Exception should be caught here, not sure how to write this out though?
                }
            validateEntry = true;
        }//end else

        if (Request["txtEndDate"].ToString().Trim() == "")
        {
            //displays yellow bg for missing input
            txtEndDate.BackColor = System.Drawing.Color.Yellow;
            validateEntry = false;
            Msg = Msg + "End Date <br/>  ";
         }//endif
        else
        {
            try
            {
                //Conversion to DateTime format?
                endDate = DateTime.Parse(Request["txtEndDate"]);
                //How do I write the format I want, and when it should be checked?
            }
            catch (Exception ex)
            {
                //Exception should be caught here, not sure how to write this out though?
            }
            validateEntry = true;

        }//end else
//END SERIES OF IF/ELSE FOR CONFIRMING ENTRIES 

//START IF VALIDATE ENTRY    
        if (validateEntry == true)
        {
            if (DateTime.Compare(startDate, endDate) >= 0)
            {
                txtStartDate.BackColor = System.Drawing.Color.Yellow;
                txtEndDate.BackColor = System.Drawing.Color.Yellow;
                Msg = Msg + "Start Date <br/>" + "End Date <br/> <br/>The end date must be a later date than the start date.";
                //The Msg text will be displayed in lblError.Text after all the error messages are concatenated
                validatedState = false;
                //Boolean value - test each textbox to see if the data entered is valid, if not set validState=false. 
                //If after testing each validation rule, the validatedState value is true, then submit to frmPersonnelVerified.aspx, if not, then display error message
            }
            else //goes to this if dates are correct
            {
                validatedState = true;
                count += 2;
                txtStartDate.BackColor = System.Drawing.Color.White;
                txtEndDate.BackColor = System.Drawing.Color.White;
            }
        }
//END IF VALIDATE ENTRY

//SENDS DATA & ERROR MESSAGES
        if (count == 5 && validatedState == true)
        {
            Session["txtFirstName"] = txtFirstName.Text;
            Session["txtLastName"] = txtLastName.Text;
            Session["txtPayRate"] = txtPayRate.Text;
            Session["txtStartDate"] = txtStartDate.Text;
            Session["txtEndDate"] = txtEndDate.Text;
            Response.Redirect("frmPersonnelVerified.aspx");
            //sends to other page
        }
        else
        {
            //Writes out error messages
            Response.Write("<br/><span style = 'color: red ; position: absolute; top: 360px; left: 90px;'>" + Msg + "</span>");           
        }
//ENDS DATA AND ERROR MESSAGES


    }//end Function: private void BtnSubmit_click...

}

Answer 1

You could use TryParse to check for a valid date

// valid Date
DateTime goodDate;
if (DateTime.TryParse("2000-02-02", out goodDate))
{
    Console.WriteLine(goodDate);
}

// not a date
DateTime badDate;
if (DateTime.TryParse("???", out badDate))
{
    Console.WriteLine(badDate);
}
else
{
    Console.WriteLine("Invalid");
}

You might also want to include the culture if you are expecting a format based on a region

string dateString;
      CultureInfo culture;
      DateTimeStyles styles;
      DateTime dateResult;    
// Parse a date and time with no styles.
      dateString = "03/01/2009 10:00 AM";
      culture = CultureInfo.CreateSpecificCulture("en-US");
      styles = DateTimeStyles.None;
      if (DateTime.TryParse(dateString, culture, styles, out dateResult))
         Console.WriteLine("{0} converted to {1} {2}.", 
                           dateString, dateResult, dateResult.Kind);
      else
         Console.WriteLine("Unable to convert {0} to a date and time.", 
                           dateString);

Answer 2

From MSDN: https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/0yd65esw.aspx

When an exception is thrown, the common language runtime (CLR) looks for the catch statement that handles this exception. If the currently executing method does not contain such a catch block, the CLR looks at the method that called the current method, and so on up the call stack. If no catch block is found, then the CLR displays an unhandled exception message to the user and stops execution of the program.

The try block contains the guarded code that may cause the exception. The block is executed until an exception is thrown or it is completed successfully.

You can logically think of a try... catch... block kind of like a conditional.

For example, lets say you have this code:

string someString = "ABC";
DateTime someDate = DateTime.Parse(someString);

Obviously "ABC" is not a valid DateTime, so what happens? Your application crashes due to an unhandled exception (error).

When you wrap something in a try... catch... block, you are basically saying:

If an exception occurs in my try block, then STOP executing the code in my try block, execute the code in the catch block, and continue on like nothing happened. Otherwise, just ignore code in my catch block.

This is referred to as structured exception handling. You are anticipating "dangerous" areas of your code, and adding contingency code in case that worst-case scenario happens. Structured exception handling is especially useful for dealing with unsafe user input as well as external or unreliable systems (like external webservices).

An example:

string someString = "ABC";
DateTime someDate;

try
{
    someDate = DateTime.Parse(someString);
}
catch
{
    // someString must not have been a valid DateTime!
    // Console.WriteLine($"Hey, {someString} is not a valid DateTime!"); 
    Console.WriteLine(String.Format("Hey, {0} is not a valid DateTime!", someString)); 
}

// Code continues executing because the exception was "caught"

Answer 3

Move the validateEntry = true; to within the try so you won't be setting it even if DateTime.Parse throws an exception. Your try-catchs are fine. They will catch any errors in the DateTime.Parses.

Answer 4

If you really want to be exact:

        DateTime dateValue;

        var isDatePass = DateTime.TryParseExact("03/08/2002", "MM/dd/yyyy", new CultureInfo("en-US"), DateTimeStyles.None, out dateValue);

Keep in mind, you could always use upfront validation.