How to handle null datetime appearing in MVC model

Question

I have a controller action which performs a SQL query and passes a list of a model type back to the view. The view then outputs a simple table with the data contained in each model.

My model:

public class UserModel
{
    [Key]
    public string UserID { get; set; }
    public string EmailAddress { get; set; }
    public string Password { get; set; }
    public string SecurityToken { get; set; }
    [DisplayFormat(DataFormatString = "{0:yyyy/MM/dd}", ApplyFormatInEditMode = true)]
    public DateTime CreatedDate { get; set; }
    [DisplayFormat(DataFormatString = "{0:yyyy/MM/dd}", ApplyFormatInEditMode = true)]
    public DateTime LastUsedDate { get; set; }
    [DisplayFormat(DataFormatString = "{0:yyyy/MM/dd}", ApplyFormatInEditMode = true)]
    public DateTime LastUpdatedDate { get; set; }
}

My view:

@foreach (var item in Model)
{
    <tr>
        <td>
            @Html.DisplayFor(modelItem => item.EmailAddress)
        </td>
        <td>
            @Html.DisplayFor(modelItem => item.SecurityToken)
        </td>
        <td>
            @Html.DisplayFor(modelItem => item.CreatedDate)
        </td>
        <td>
            @Html.DisplayFor(modelItem => item.LastUsedDate)
        </td>
        <td>
            @Html.DisplayFor(modelItem => item.LastUpdatedDate)
        </td>
    </tr>
}

For some rows in the data, LastUsedDate and LastUpdated date are null, so they resort to 1900-01-01, and they are displayed in the view as such.

Is there a way to not show this value if it is 1900-01-01?

My query in the controller is

SELECT UserID, EmailAddress, SecurityToken, CreatedDate, 
ISNULL(LastUsedDate, '1900-01-01') AS LastUsedDate, 
ISNULL(LastUpdatedDate, '1900-01-01') AS LastUpdatedDate 
FROM table1 ORDER BY CreatedDate DESC

And I assign them to the model like so:

var user = new UserModel
{
    CreatedDate = (DateTime)reader["CreatedDate"],
    LastUsedDate = (DateTime)reader["LastUsedDate"],
    LastUpdatedDate = (DateTime)reader["LastUpdatedDate"]
}

Shyju · Accepted Answer · 2016-11-10 17:33:20Z

4

Change the property type from DateTime to a nullable DateTime(DateTime?).

public class UserModel
{
    // Your existing properties goes here

    public DateTime? LastUpdatedDate { get; set; }
}

Now in your SQL, do not replace NULL with any date time value(ex : 1900-01-01). Just return NULL.

SELECT UserID, EmailAddress, SecurityToken, CreatedDate,LastUpdatedDate
FROM table1 
ORDER BY CreatedDate DESC

When you read from the data reader, do a null check. If the value is not null, then assign it to the LastUpdatedDate property.

var user = new UserModel
{
    EmailAddress = reader.GetString(reader.GetOrdinal("EmailAddress")),
    CreatedDate = reader.GetDateTime(reader.GetOrdinal("CreatedDate"))   
}
if(!reader.IsDBNull(reader.GetOrdinal("LastUpdatedDate")))
{
  user.LastUpdatedDate = reader.GetDateTime(reader.GetOrdinal("LastUpdatedDate"));
}

edited Nov 10, 2016 at 17:33

answered Nov 10, 2016 at 17:19

Shyju

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Chris Pickford · Accepted Answer · 2016-11-10 17:19:08Z

1

Change your model to use Nullable<DateTime>:

[DisplayFormat(DataFormatString = "{0:yyyy/MM/dd}", ApplyFormatInEditMode = true)]
public DateTime? CreatedDate { get; set; }
[DisplayFormat(DataFormatString = "{0:yyyy/MM/dd}", ApplyFormatInEditMode = true)]
public DateTime? LastUsedDate { get; set; }
[DisplayFormat(DataFormatString = "{0:yyyy/MM/dd}", ApplyFormatInEditMode = true)]
public DateTime? LastUpdatedDate { get; set; }

answered Nov 10, 2016 at 17:19

Chris Pickford

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