Date Time in VB.net – How To Display Running Date and Time

What is Date and Time in VB.net?

The Date and Time In VB.net function performs various operations related to date and time.

Sometimes we need to display the date and time in our application or web application, such as when the last post was edited, upgrade of a new software version or patch-up details, etc.

Most of the software you write needs to implement some form of date function returning the current date and time.

Dates are so much part of everyday life that it becomes easy to work with them without thinking.

VB.net also provides powerful tools for date arithmetic that make manipulating dates easy.

The Date data type contains date values, time values, or date and time values.

The default value of Date is 0:00:00 (midnight) on January 1, 0001. The equivalent .NET data type is System.DateTime.

Declaration of Date and Time in VB.net

The DateTime structure represents an instant in time, typically expressed as a date and time of day.

'Declaration
<SerializableAttribute> _
Public Structure DateTime _
Implements IComparable, IFormattable, IConvertible, ISerializable,
IComparable(Of DateTime), IEquatable(Of DateTime)

You can also get the current date and time from the DateAndTime class.

The DateAndTime module contains the procedures and properties used in date and time operations.

'Declaration
<StandardModuleAttribute> _
Public NotInheritable Class DateAndTime

Properties and Methods of the DateTime Structure in VB.net

The following table lists some of the commonly used properties of the DateTime Structure:

The following table lists some of the commonly used methods of the DateTime structure:

Creating a DateTime Object in VB.net

You can create a DateTime object in one of the following ways:

• By calling a DateTime constructor from any of the overloaded DateTime constructors.

• By assigning the DateTime object a date and time value returned by a property or method.

• By parsing the string representation of a date and time value.

• By calling the DateTime structure’s implicit default constructor.

Example program in Creating a DateTime Object in VB.net

The following example demonstrates this:

Module Module1
   Sub Main()
      'DateTime constructor: parameters year, month, day, hour, min, sec
      Dim date1 As New Date(2012, 12, 16, 12, 0, 0)
      'initializes a new DateTime value
      Dim date2 As Date = #12/16/2012 12:00:52 AM#
      'using properties
      Dim date3 As Date = Date.Now
      Dim date4 As Date = Date.UtcNow
      Dim date5 As Date = Date.Today
      
      Console.WriteLine(date1)
      Console.WriteLine(date2)
      Console.WriteLine(date3)
      Console.WriteLine(date4)
      Console.WriteLine(date5)
      Console.ReadKey()
   End Sub
End Module

When the above code was compiled and executed, it produces the following result:

12/16/2012 12:00:00 PM
12/16/2012 12:00:52 AM
6/28/2022 7:13:57 AM
6/28/2022 7:13:57 AM
6/28/2022 12:00:00 AM

You can test the above example here! ➡ VB.net Online Compiler

Getting the Current Date and Time in VB.net

The following programs demonstrate how to get the Current Date and Time in VB.net.

Current Time:

Module dateNtime
   Sub Main()
      Console.Write("Current Time: ")
      Console.WriteLine(Now.ToLongTimeString)
      Console.ReadKey()
   End Sub
End Module

When the above code is compiled and executed, it produces the following result:

Current Time: 8:19:59 AM

You can test the above example here! ➡ VB.net Online Compiler

Current Date:

Module dateNtime
   Sub Main()
      Console.WriteLine("Current Date: ")
      Dim dt As Date = Today
      Console.WriteLine("Today is: {0}", dt)
      Console.ReadKey()
   End Sub
End Module

When the above code is compiled and executed, it produces the following result:

Current Date:
Today is: 6/28/2022 12:00:00 AM

You can test the above example here! ➡ VB.net Online Compiler

Formatting Date in VB.net

A Date in VB.net literal should be enclosed within hash signs (# #), and specified in the format M/d/yyyy, for example #12/16/2022#. Otherwise, your code may change depending on the locale in which your application is running.

For example, you specified a Date literal of #2/6/2022# for the date February 6, 2022. It is alright for the locale that uses mm/dd/yyyy format.

However, in a locale that uses dd/mm/yyyy format, your literal would compile to June 2, 2022. If a locale uses another format say, yyyy/mm/dd, the literal would be invalid and cause a compiler error.

To convert a Date literal to the format of your locale or to a custom format, use the Format function of the String class, specifying either a predefined or user-defined date format.

Example Program of Formatting Date in VB.net

Let’s create a program to display the various format of date in VB.NET.

Imports System.DateTime  
Module Date_Format  
    Sub Main()  
        Console.WriteLine(" Display the different Format of Dates in VB.NET ")  
        Dim FT As DateTime = New DateTime(2005, 7, 26, 0, 0, 0)  
        ' Use format Specifier to display the various format of the date.  
        Console.WriteLine(" Format of Date 'd' : " & FT.ToString("d"))  
        Console.WriteLine(" Format of Date 'D' : " & FT.ToString("D"))  
        Console.WriteLine(" Format of Date 'R' : " & FT.ToString("R"))  
        Console.WriteLine(" Format of Date 'y' : " & FT.ToString("y"))  
        Console.WriteLine(" Format of Date 'f' : " & FT.ToString("f"))  
        Console.WriteLine(" Format of Date 'F' : " & FT.ToString("F"))  
        Console.WriteLine(" Format of Date 't' : " & FT.ToString("t"))  
        Console.WriteLine(" Format of Date 'T' : " & FT.ToString("T"))  
        Console.WriteLine(" Format of Date 'g' : " & FT.ToString("g"))  
        Console.WriteLine(" Format of Date 'G' : " & FT.ToString("G"))  
        Console.WriteLine(" Format of Date 'M' : " & FT.ToString("M"))  

        Console.ReadKey()  
    End Sub  
End Module  

When the above code is compiled and executed, it produces the following result:

Display the different Format of Dates in VB.NET
Format of Date ‘d’ : 7/26/2022
Format of Date ‘D’ : Tuesday, July 26, 2022
Format of Date ‘R’ : Tue, 26 Jul 2022 00:00:00 GMT
Format of Date ‘y’ : July 2022
Format of Date ‘f’ : Tuesday, July 26, 2022 12:00 AM
Format of Date ‘F’ : Tuesday, July 26, 2022 12:00:00 AM
Format of Date ‘t’ : 12:00 AM
Format of Date ‘T’ : 12:00:00 AM
Format of Date ‘g’ : 7/26/2022 12:00 AM
Format of Date ‘G’ : 7/26/2022 12:00:00 AM
Format of Date ‘M’ : July 26

You can test the above example here! ➡ VB.net Online Compiler

Predefined Date/Time Formats in VB.net

The following table identifies the predefined date and time format names. These may be used by name as the style argument for the Format function.

Properties and Methods of the DateAndTime Class in VB.net

The following table lists some of the commonly used properties of the DateAndTime Class in VB.net.

The following table lists some of the commonly used methods of the DateAndTime class in VB.net.

Example Program of Methods of the DateAndTime class in VB.net.

The following program demonstrates some of these methods.

Module Module1
   Sub Main()
      Dim birthday As Date
      Dim bday As Integer
      Dim month As Integer
      Dim monthname As String
      ' Assign a date using standard short format.
      birthday = #2/11/1996#
      bday = Microsoft.VisualBasic.DateAndTime.Day(birthday)
      month = Microsoft.VisualBasic.DateAndTime.Month(birthday)
      monthname = Microsoft.VisualBasic.DateAndTime.MonthName(month)
      
      Console.WriteLine(birthday)
      Console.WriteLine(bday)
      Console.WriteLine(month)
      Console.WriteLine(monthname)
      Console.ReadKey()
   End Sub
End Module

When the above code is compiled and executed, it produces the following result:

2/11/1996 12:00:00 AM
11
2
February

You can test the above example here! ➡ VB.net Online Compiler

Summary

In this tutorial, we’ve discussed the Date and Time in VB.net and how to declare Date and Time using Visual Basic Programming, also we give examples for the different format of Data and Time in VB.net.

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