Display Date and time on a form VS 2022

[coyney2272]

Hi I am trying to display the date and time in a text box,

I can get the date to show but have an issue displaying the time.
Any help would be great thanks in advance.

Sample of code below.

Dim theDate As Date
theDate = Format(Now(), "Short Date")
TextBox1.Text = theDate

[jmcilhinney]

Firstly, don't use that Format function at all, ever. It's a VB6 holdover that has no place in new VB.NET code. The same goes for that Now property.

As for the question, if you want to display the time then why would you specify a format that is date only? Whether you use old VB6 methods or new .NET methods, if you want to display the date and time then specify a format that includes both date and time, which "Short Date" does not.

You are also getting the current date and time as a Date, converting that to a String, converting that String to a Date and then converting that Date to a String again. No, don't do that. If you simply did this:

TextBox1.Text = Date.Now

it would work. That's not ideal though, because you're relying on the system to perform an implicit conversion from Date to String. You really ought to turn Option Strict On, which would force you to do it explicitly, e.g.

TextBox1.Text = Date.Now.ToString()

That will display the date and time in the system default format. If you want a specific format then you can specify that, e.g.

TextBox1.Text = Date.Now.ToString("d/MM/yyyy h:mm tt")

[coyney2272]

Firstly, don't use that Format function at all, ever. It's a VB6 holdover that has no place in new VB.NET code. The same goes for that Now property.

As for the question, if you want to display the time then why would you specify a format that is date only? Whether you use old VB6 methods or new .NET methods, if you want to display the date and time then specify a format that includes both date and time, which "Short Date" does not.

You are also getting the current date and time as a Date, converting that to a String, converting that String to a Date and then converting that Date to a String again. No, don't do that. If you simply did this:

TextBox1.Text = Date.Now

it would work. That's not ideal though, because you're relying on the system to perform an implicit conversion from Date to String. You really ought to turn Option Strict On, which would force you to do it explicitly, e.g.

TextBox1.Text = Date.Now.ToString()

That will display the date and time in the system default format. If you want a specific format then you can specify that, e.g.

TextBox1.Text = Date.Now.ToString("d/MM/yyyy h:mm tt")

THanks for the responce I added box 3 to my form, however nothing is displayed and no errors.

Private Sub TextBox1_TextChanged_1(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles TextBox1.TextChanged
TextBox1.Text = Date.Now.ToString("d/MM/yyyy h:mm tt")

End Sub
End Class
TextBox1 is the label of the text box.

Kind regards

[Shaggy Hiker]

You put it in the textchanged event handler. What did you expect to happen? That event is only raised when the text in the textbox changes. Type a character into the textbox, and you'll see your date. I really doubt that's the behavior you wanted, but that's the behavior you will get because of how you wrote the code.

When do you want that date to show up? Do you want it when the form loads? If so, then put it in form load event handler. Do you want it when you press a button? Then put it in the click event handler for that button.

[.paul.]

You wouldn’t put the code in TextBox1_TextChanged… Use your Form1_Load event handler, for a static date and time. If you want the time to update in real time, use a Timer…

Public Class Form1
    Private WithEvents tmr as New Timer With {.Interval = 500}

    Public Sub Form1_Load(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles MyBase.Load
        Tmr.Start
    End Sub

    Private Sub tmr_Tick(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles tmr.Tick
        TextBox1.Text = … ‘your code here
    End Sub

End Class

[Shaggy Hiker]

Also, if you do want to be updating that date/time, whether with a timer or by some other means, then it shouldn't be in a textbox, it should be in a label. The user expects to be able to change information in a textbox. If you are putting the date/time in a textbox, then the user will expect to be able to change it, so if you are just going to replace those changes, you will just confuse the user. If they shouldn't expect to be able to change the values, then use a label rather than a textbox.

[jmcilhinney]

Also, if you do want to be updating that date/time, whether with a timer or by some other means, then it shouldn't be in a textbox, it should be in a label. The user expects to be able to change information in a textbox. If you are putting the date/time in a textbox, then the user will expect to be able to change it, so if you are just going to replace those changes, you will just confuse the user. If they shouldn't expect to be able to change the values, then use a label rather than a textbox.

Quite so, and if you are intending for the user to input the date and/or time then you should be using a DateTimePicker.