How to localize DatePicker date format based on language defined in regional settings

Question

I have English Windows 7 installed on my computer, and the default language is English (using "Regional and Language Settings"). When I read DateTimeFormat.ShortDatePattern using the following C # statement:

 System.Threading.Thread.CurrentThread.CurrentUICulture.DateTimeFormat.ShortDatePattern 

I got this result

 "M/d/yyyy" 

I also tried this statement and still got the same line.

 System.Globalization.CultureInfo.CurrentUICulture.DateTimeFormat.ShortDatePattern "M/d/yyyy" 

However, now I changed the language to Regional and Language Settings and selected Danish. Now, if I go to the “Format” tab and in a short date format, you will see "M/d/åååå" , which is localized in Danish. This means that by changing the language, the date format is changed.

However, in my application, I still get the above English format string, even if the loaded CurrentUICulture is correct for da-DK for the Danish language. I want to display a localized ShortDateFormat, as shown in the regional settings. Do I need to do localization on my own or is there any way to do this. Please let me know if I missed something.

Edit: This information is added to further clarify the issue based on a discussion with Peter.

The combobox format speaks of Danish (Denmark). The format reads fine, Danish, but the line still says M / d / yyyy instead of M / d / åååå. This is the exact M / d / åååå line that I want to display in the DatePicker control. In other words, the watermark should display the localized ShortDatePattern. Still struggling ...

Answer 1

Try setting CurrentCulture, not CurrentUICulture. For instance:

 Thread.CurrentThread.CurrentCulture = new CultureInfo("da-DK"); 

CurrentUICulture defines the resources required for the application.

CultureInfo specifies the default format for dates, times, numbers, currencies, text sort order, casing conventions and string comparisons, and what you need.

Answer 2

Here is a C # example that you can do. (Dump is a linqpad extension method that you can ignore in your own code).

A complete list of date format strings is available here.

 var languages = new List<string>{"de-DE", "en", "es-ES", "es-MX", "fr-FR", "it-IT", "pt-BR", "sv-SE"}; var date = DateTime.Now; languages.Select (l => new { Lang=l, d_shortDate = date.ToString("d", new CultureInfo(l)), D_longDate = date.ToString("D", new CultureInfo(l)), g_generalDate1 = date.ToString("g", new CultureInfo(l)), m = date.ToString("m", new CultureInfo(l)), y = date.ToString("y", new CultureInfo(l)), dd = date.ToString("dd", new CultureInfo(l)), mm = date.ToString("mm", new CultureInfo(l)), yy = date.ToString("yy", new CultureInfo(l)), }) .Dump();