This sample demonstrates how to use the DateTimeFormatter class in the Windows.Globalization.DateTimeFormatting namespace to display dates and times according to the user's preferences.

Note  This sample was created using one of the universal app templates available in Visual Studio. It shows how its solution is structured so it can run on both Windows 8.1 and Windows Phone 8.1. For more info about how to build apps that target Windows and Windows Phone with Visual Studio, see Build apps that target Windows and Windows Phone 8.1 by using Visual Studio.

The DateTimeFormatter API is in the Windows.Globalization.DateTimeFormatting namespace. It provides a globally-aware method for formatting a date or time into a string for display to a user. The API can either use the default preferences of the current user, or the caller can override these to specify other languages, geographic region, and clock and calendar systems. The caller can request a format using the well-known constants (shorttime, longtime, shortdate or longdate) or define the specific elements required.

The sample also uses the Windows.Globalization.CalendarIdentifiers and Windows.Globalization.ClockIdentifiers classes.

This sample contains scenarios that demonstrate:

To obtain an evaluation copy of Windows 8.1, go to Windows 8.1.

To obtain an evaluation copy of Microsoft Visual Studio 2013 Update 2, go to Microsoft Visual Studio 2013.

Related topics

Windows 8 app samples
Reference
Windows.Globalization.CalendarIdentifiers
Windows.Globalization.ClockIdentifiers
Windows.Globalization.DateTimeFormatting.DateTimeFormatter

Operating system requirements

Client
Windows 8.1
Server
Windows Server 2012 R2
Phone
Windows Phone 8.1

Build the sample

  1. Start Visual Studio 2013 Update 2 and select File > Open > Project/Solution.
  2. Go to the directory to which you unzipped the sample. Then go to the subdirectory named for the sample and double-click the Visual Studio 2013 Update 2 Solution (.sln) file.
  3. Follow the steps for the version of the sample you want:
    • To build the Windows version of the sample:

      1. Select DateTimeFormattingSample.Windows in Solution Explorer.
      2. Press Ctrl+Shift+B, or use Build > Build Solution, or use Build > Build DateTimeFormattingSample.Windows.
    • To build the Windows Phone version of the sample:

      1. Select DateTimeFormattingSample.WindowsPhone in Solution Explorer.
      2. Press Ctrl+Shift+B or use Build > Build Solution or use Build > Build DateTimeFormattingSample.WindowsPhone.

Run the sample

The next steps depend on whether you just want to deploy the sample or you want to both deploy and run it.

Deploying the sample

Deploying and running the sample