My Testing Of DateTime Parsing Capabilities

  
  public static void TestDateTime()
  {
    TestDateParsing(DateTime.Today.ToString());
    TestDateParsing("16/08/2005");
    TestDateParsing("01-08-2005");
    TestDateParsing("25 December 2005");
    TestDateParsing("");
    TestDateParsing("YES");
    /*
Test with: '18/08/2005 00:00:00'
  '18/08/2005'
  Difference in days from today: 0
Test with: '16/08/2005'
  '16/08/2005'
  Difference in days from today: 2
  Date is WITHIN the last '21' days
Test with: '01-08-2005'
  '01/08/2005'
  Difference in days from today: 17
  Date is WITHIN the last '21' days
Test with: '25 December 2005'
  '25/12/2005'
  Difference in days from today: -128
Test with: ''
  Exception caught: 'String was not recognized as a valid DateTime.'
 setting dat
e to Minimum Value
  '01/01/0001'
  Difference in days from today: 732175
Test with: 'YES'
  Exception caught: 'The string was not recognized as a valid 
DateTime.  There i
s a unknown word starting at index 0.' setting date to Minimum
 Value
  '01/01/0001'
  Difference in days from today: 732175  
    */
  }
  
  public static void TestDateParsing(string str)
  {
    DateTime date;
    try
    {
      WL(string.Concat("Test with: \'", str, "\'"));
      date = DateTime.Parse(str);
    }
    catch (Exception ex)
    {
      WL(string.Concat("  Exception caught: \'",ex.Message, "\'
 setting date to Minimum Value"));
      date = DateTime.MinValue;
    }

    WL(string.Concat("  \'", date.ToString("dd/MM/yyyy"), "\'"));
    TimeSpan time = DateTime.Now.Subtract(date);
    WL(string.Concat("  Difference in days from today: ",time.Days));  
    const int DAYLIMIT = 21;    
    if ((time.Days <= DAYLIMIT) && (time.Days > 0))
    {
      WL(string.Concat("  Date is WITHIN the last \'", DAYLIMIT, 
"\' days"));      
    }

  }

To parse the string "Mon, 08 Apr 2013 09:56:56 +0100" had to use the parse format "ddd, dd MMM yyyy HH':'mm':'ss K"
Like so:

string form = @"ddd, dd MMM yyyy HH':'mm':'ss K";
DateTime.TryParseExact(pubDateNode.Value, form, 
  System.Globalization.CultureInfo.CurrentCulture,
  System.Globalization.DateTimeStyles.AssumeLocal, 
  out when);