@Html.EditorFor DateTime not displaying when set a default value to it

Question

I'd like to set a default value to my model in Controller, But It cannot display in create page.

TestModel code:

public class TestModel
{
    [DataType(DataType.DateTime), Required]
    [DisplayFormat(DataFormatString = "yyyy/MM/dd", ApplyFormatInEditMode = true)]
    public DateTime StartTime { get; set; }

    [DataType(DataType.DateTime), Required]
    [DisplayFormat(DataFormatString = "yyyy/MM/dd", ApplyFormatInEditMode = true)]
    public DateTime EndTime { get; set; }


    public string Description { get; set; }
}

Controller code:

public ActionResult Create()
{
    var model = new TestModel();
    model.StartTime = DateTime.Now;
    model.EndTime = DateTime.Now.AddDays(10);
    model.Description = "This is a default value";
    return View(model);
}

View page:

<div class="form-group">
    @Html.LabelFor(model => model.StartTime, htmlAttributes: new { @class = "control-label col-md-2" })
    <div class="col-md-10">
        @Html.EditorFor(model => model.StartTime)
        @Html.ValidationMessageFor(model => model.StartTime)
    </div>
</div>

But the display is not correct that it is has no default datetime value, but the description default value is display correct:

Answer 1

You need to have model class property like below :

[DataType(DataType.Date), Required]
[DisplayFormat(DataFormatString = "{0:yyyy/MM/dd}", ApplyFormatInEditMode = true)]
public DateTime StartTime { get; set; }

[DataType(DataType.Date), Required]
[DisplayFormat(DataFormatString = "{0:yyyy/MM/dd}", ApplyFormatInEditMode = true)]
public DateTime EndTime { get; set; }

When you decorate a model property with [DataType(DataType.Date)] the default template in ASP.NET MVC generates an input field of type="date".