How to get the users set of date format pattern strings?

[David Lowndes]

I would like to get the current user's set of date format pattern
strings - as listed in the Control Panel regional settings applet. For
my UK English system I see the following patterns listed:

Short Date:
dd/MM/yyyy
dd/MM/yy
d/M/yy
d.M.yy
yyyy-MM-dd

Long Date:
dd MMMM yyyy
d MMMM yyyy

If I use GetDateTimeFormats (d and D) the results match the expected
patterns above, but of course they're the formatted date not the
pattern string.

If I use GetAllDateTimePatterns (d and D) I only get 1 pattern
for both short & long formats.

FWIW, here's an example code snippet:

string [] formats =
System.DateTime.UtcNow.GetDateTimeFormats('d');
formats = System.DateTime.UtcNow.GetDateTimeFormats('D');
formats =
System.DateTime.UtcNow.GetDateTimeFormats(System.Globalization.CultureInfo.CurrentCulture);
System.Globalization.DateTimeFormatInfo dtfi = new
System.Globalization.DateTimeFormatInfo();
formats = dtfi.GetAllDateTimePatterns('d');
formats = dtfi.GetAllDateTimePatterns('D');

... and these are the string arrays returned:

GetDateTimeFormats('d'):
30/12/2009
30/12/09
30/12/09
30.12.09
2009-12-30

GetDateTimeFormats('D'):
30 December 2009
30 December 2009

GetAllDateTimePatterns('d'):
MM/dd/yyyy

GetAllDateTimePatterns('D'):
dddd, dd MMMM yyyy

How do you get the format strings that GetDateTimeFormats uses - they
appear to be what the OS uses, and are not what GetAllDateTimePatterns
returns.

Dave

[Mihai N.]

> I would like to get the current user's set of date format pattern
> strings - as listed in the Control Panel regional settings applet. For
> my UK English system I see the following patterns listed:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aszyst2c.aspx

--
Mihai Nita [Microsoft MVP, Visual C++]
http://www.mihai-nita.net
------------------------------------------
Replace _year_ with _ to get the real email

[David Lowndes]

>> I would like to get the current user's set of date format pattern
>> strings - as listed in the Control Panel regional settings applet. For
>> my UK English system I see the following patterns listed:
>
>http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aszyst2c.aspx

Hi Mihai,

As I mentioned in my original post, GetAllDateTimePatterns doesn't get
the patterns that the OS shows - which correspond to the ones that
GetDateTimeFormats uses.

Dave