Show date in UTC in ASP:GridView BoundField

Question

I'm trying to use a GridView to show a DateTime value. So far I have been able to show the data using the format string that I want by using:

<asp:GridView ID="myGrid" ... >
    <Columns>
        <asp:BoundField DataField="myField" DataFormatString={0:MM/dd/yyyy hhmmss} ... />
        ...
    </Columns>
    ...
</asp:GridView>

The problem I'm having now is that this is always being shown as local time. My users will be expecting it to always be shown as UTC, regardless of where they are. Is there some way I can force the GridView to show what the UTC time would be, instead of the local time?

For example, I have found out that in vb.net, to convert a string to a date I can tell it to use universal time with:

Dim myDateAsString as String = "03/31/2014 19:00"
Dim myDate as DateTime = DateTime.ParseExact(myDateAsString, "MM/dd/yyyy HH:mm", System.Globalization.DateTimeFormatInfo.InvariantInfo, System.Globalization.DateTimeStyles.AssumeUniversal)

I'm looking for something similar to the .AssumeUniversal part that I can use when I set up my GridView in asp.

I hope what I'm asking is clear. If not I can try to elaborate more, if someone let's me know what isn't clear.

---

UPDATE:

The DataSource for my GridView is a DataSet that is filled by a SELECT query that just pulls data from my database. Since the field I'm interested in here is a DateTime field in my database, I am assuming it will still be a DateTime when it gets assigned as the DataSource. Is that correct?

It looks to me like the only code related to filling the GridView is

myGrid.DatqaSource = mySQLObject.sel_from_table(vars)
myGrid.DataBind()

Where mySQLObject.sel_from_table(vars) will return a DataSet as described above. The answers so far have suggested that I need to change the data to UTC before sending it to the GridView - Where/how should that be done? Do I have to change it in my query somehow? Or in the DataSet before I assign it as the DataSource?

Answer 1

The grid view is merely a display mechanism. It'll display whatever value you pass it in the format you specified. If you want to change the value itself (Utc Date) then 2 options are:

1. Template Item where you can call an Eval option to compute Utc Date.
2. Change the value of myField server side so that the grid view can bind that. e.g. in your SQL query results.

Either ways, your server side code needs to convert the date into UTC (ToUniversalTime() or DateTime.UtcNow etc.) and send it across for display.

here is how you can do using TemplateField.

in your ASPX

<asp:TemplateField HeaderText="My Fields">
    <ItemTemplate>
        <asp:Label runat="server" text='<%# GetUtcFormattedDate((DateTime)Eval("myField")) %>' />
    </ItemTemplate>
</asp:TemplateField>

In your code behind, you can have a static method

public static string GetUtcFormattedDate(DateTime date)
{
 return date.ToUniversalTime().ToString(YOUR_DATE_FORMAT_STRING);
}