Convert DateTime in DataRow to a formatted date string

Question

I\'m hoping that there is something I am not seeing clearly, but to simplify, I have the below code

foreach (DataRow row in dt.Rows)
{
  row[\"StartOn\"] = C         


        

Answer 1

What is dt.Columns["StartOn"]. I suspect this is DateTime. Let me break down your single line of code into 2 lines.

string s = Convert.ToDateTime(row["StartOn"].ToString()).ToString("MMM dd").ToString();
row["StartOn"] = s;

In line 1, you are converting a DateTime object to a string object. But on line 2, you are implicitly converting your string to a DateTime

var dt = new DataTable();
dt.Columns.Add("StartOn", typeof(DateTime));
dt.Rows.Add(DateTime.Today);

foreach (DataRow row in dt.Rows) {
    var data = Convert.ToDateTime(row["StartOn"].ToString()).ToString("MMM dd").ToString();
    Console.WriteLine($"Type of stored data is: {data.GetType()}");
    row["StartOn"] = data;
}

// fetch the data
var fetchedData = dt.Rows[0][0];
Console.WriteLine($"Type of Fetched Data is: {fetchedData.GetType()}");

BTW, you can use the below line to do the conversion

((DateTime)row["StartOn"]).ToString("MMM dd");