Format DateTime column (field) in ASP.Net GridView with AutoGenerateColumns True

Database

Here I am making use of Microsoft’s Northwind Database. The download and install instructions are provided in the following article.

Download and install Northwind Database

HTML Markup

The following HTML Markup consists of an ASP.Net GridView with AutoGenerateColumns property with set to True and specified with OnRowDataBound event.

<asp:GridView ID="GridView1" runat="server" OnRowDataBound="OnRowDataBound">

</asp:GridView>

Namespaces

You will need to import the following namespaces.

C#

using System.Data;

using System.Data.SqlClient;

using System.Configuration;

VB.Net

Imports System.Data

Imports System.Data.SqlClient

Imports System.Configuration

Binding the Repeater control using records form database

Inside the Page load event handler, the Repeater is populated with the records from the Customers table of the Northwind database.

C#

protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)

{

    if (!this.IsPostBack)

    {

        this.BindGrid();

    }

}

private void BindGrid()

{

    string constr = ConfigurationManager.ConnectionStrings["constr"].ConnectionString;

    using (SqlConnection con = new SqlConnection(constr))

    {

        string query = "SELECT EmployeeId, (FirstName + '' + LastName) Name, BirthDate FROM Employees";

        using (SqlCommand cmd = new SqlCommand(query))

        {

            using (SqlDataAdapter sda = new SqlDataAdapter())

            {

                cmd.Connection = con;

                sda.SelectCommand = cmd;

                using (DataTable dt = new DataTable())

                {

                    sda.Fill(dt);

                    GridView1.DataSource = dt;

                    GridView1.DataBind();

                }

            }

        }

    }

}

VB.Net

Protected Sub Page_Load(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles Me.Load

    If Not Me.IsPostBack Then

        Me.BindGrid()

    End If

End Sub

Private Sub BindGrid()

    Dim constr As String = ConfigurationManager.ConnectionStrings("constr").ConnectionString

    Using con As New SqlConnection(constr)

        Dim query As String = "SELECT EmployeeId, (FirstName + '' + LastName) Name, BirthDate FROM Employees"

        Using cmd As New SqlCommand(query)

            Using sda As New SqlDataAdapter()

                cmd.Connection = con

                sda.SelectCommand = cmd

                Using dt As New DataTable()

                    sda.Fill(dt)

                    GridView1.DataSource = dt

                    GridView1.DataBind()

                End Using

            End Using

        End Using

    End Using

End Sub

Formatting DateTime column (field) in ASP.Net GridView with AutoGenerateColumns True

Inside the OnRowDataBound event handler, the value of the DateTime field is formatted to the desired DateTime format.

C#

protected void OnRowDataBound(object sender, GridViewRowEventArgs e)

{

    if (e.Row.RowType == DataControlRowType.DataRow)

    {

        e.Row.Cells[2].Text = Convert.ToDateTime(e.Row.Cells[2].Text).ToString("dd, MMM yyyy");

    }

}

VB.Net

Protected Sub OnRowDataBound(sender As Object, e As GridViewRowEventArgs)

    If e.Row.RowType = DataControlRowType.DataRow Then

        e.Row.Cells(2).Text = Convert.ToDateTime(e.Row.Cells(2).Text).ToString("dd, MMM yyyy")

    End If

End Sub