Format, Year, And Datetime Function not Recognized

Question

I recently moved a webservice VB.net project from VS 2005 to VS 2008 and now a conversion I use to create a unique receipt number is no longer working.

The Format() function which is supposedly a Visual basic function gives the error:
            'Format' is a type and cannot be used as an expression.  

The Year() Function which is also a VB function gives the error:
             Name 'Year' is not declared.   

The Datetime() Function which is also a VB function gives the error:
           'DateTime' is a type and cannot be used as an expression.  

The actual code statement remains unchanged between the two web services but VS2005 compiles and VS2008 does not.

Dim julda As Long = CLng(Format(Year(oneRowDon.Item(8)), "0000") _
                  + Format(DateTime("d", CDate("01/01/" _
                  + Format(Year(oneRowDon.Item(8)), "0000")), oneRowDon.Item(8)) _
                  + 1, "000"))

Answer 1

Could you provide more information on what you are trying to achieve with this formatting?

(I don't know what oneRowDon is and cannot run your code.)

There are *lots* of ways to format dates.

There are features such as this:

        Dim dt As DateTime = DateTime.Now
        Dim year As Long = CType(dt.Year & "0000", Long)

Using dt.Year pulls the year value.

There are also date formatting features:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/az4se3k1.aspx

Hope this helps.

---

www.insteptech.com ; msmvps.com/blogs/deborahk
We are volunteers and ask only that if we are able to help you, that you mark our reply as your answer. THANKS!

Answer 2

Do you have a reference to Microsoft.VisualBasic?

Right click your project in Solution Explorer, go to references tab, go to Imported namespaces and make sure Microsoft.VisualBasic is checked.

or user other alternatives which is better than using visualbasic namespace

---

Arjun Paudel

Answer 3

In the VS2005 file there are no references and the web.config is as follows:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<!-- 
    Note: As an alternative to hand editing this file you can use the 
    web admin tool to configure settings for your application. Use
    the Website->Asp.Net Configuration option in Visual Studio.
    A full list of settings and comments can be found in 
    machine.config.comments usually located in 
    \Windows\Microsoft.Net\Framework\v2.x\Config 
-->
<configuration>
	<appSettings/>
 <location allowOverride="true">
		<system.web>
			<securityPolicy>
				<trustLevel name="Full" policyFile="internal"/>
				<trustLevel name="High" policyFile="web_hightrust.config"/>
				<trustLevel name="Medium" policyFile="web_mediumtrust.config"/>
				<trustLevel name="Low" policyFile="web_lowtrust.config"/>
				<trustLevel name="Minimal" policyFile="web_minimaltrust.config"/>
				<trustLevel name="ModifiedMedium" policyFile="modified_mediumtrust.config"/>
			</securityPolicy>
			<trust level="Full" originUrl=""/>
			<!--<identity impersonate="true" username="STUDENT" password="food"/>-->
			<!-- 
            Set compilation debug="true" to insert debugging 
            symbols into the compiled page. Because this 
            affects performance, set this value to true only 
            during development.

            Visual Basic options:
            Set strict="true" to disallow all data type conversions 
            where data loss can occur. 
            Set explicit="true" to force declaration of all variables.
        -->
      <compilation debug="true" strict="false" explicit="true">

        <assemblies>
          <add assembly="Microsoft.Data.Odbc, Version=1.0.3300.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=B77A5C561934E089"/>
          <add assembly="Microsoft.SqlServer.SqlCEDest, Version=9.0.242.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=89845DCD8080CC91"/>
        </assemblies>
      </compilation>
			<pages>
				<namespaces>
					<clear/>
					<add namespace="System"/>
					<add namespace="System.Collections"/>
					<add namespace="System.Collections.Specialized"/>
					<add namespace="System.Configuration"/>
					<add namespace="System.Text"/>
					<add namespace="System.Text.RegularExpressions"/>
					<add namespace="System.Web"/>
					<add namespace="System.Web.Caching"/>
					<add namespace="System.Web.SessionState"/>
					<add namespace="System.Web.Security"/>
					<add namespace="System.Web.Profile"/>
					<add namespace="System.Web.UI"/>
					<add namespace="System.Web.UI.WebControls"/>
					<add namespace="System.Web.UI.WebControls.WebParts"/>
					<add namespace="System.Web.UI.HtmlControls"/>
				</namespaces>
			</pages>
			<httpRuntime minFreeThreads="88" minLocalRequestFreeThreads="76" executionTimeout="600000" maxRequestLength="10000"/>
			<!--
            The <authentication> section enables configuration 
            of the security authentication mode used by 
            ASP.NET to identify an incoming user. 
        -->
			<authentication mode="Windows"/>
			<!--
            The <customErrors> section enables configuration 
            of what to do if/when an unhandled error occurs 
            during the execution of a request. Specifically, 
            it enables developers to configure html error pages 
            to be displayed in place of a error stack trace.

        <customErrors mode="RemoteOnly" defaultRedirect="GenericErrorPage.htm">
            <error statusCode="403" redirect="NoAccess.htm" />
            <error statusCode="404" redirect="FileNotFound.htm" />
        </customErrors>
        -->
		</system.web>
	</location>
	<system.web>
		<sessionState cookieless="UseDeviceProfile" />
  <customErrors defaultRedirect=""/>
		<trace enabled="true" localOnly="false" mostRecent="true" pageOutput="true"/>	
			</system.web>
</configuration>

The  VS2008 will not compile even when I add the Microsoft.VisualBasic assembly:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<!-- 
    Note: As an alternative to hand editing this file you can use the 
    web admin tool to configure settings for your application. Use
    the Website->Asp.Net Configuration option in Visual Studio.
    A full list of settings and comments can be found in 
    machine.config.comments usually located in 
    \Windows\Microsoft.Net\Framework\v2.x\Config 
-->
<configuration>
	<appSettings/>
	<location allowOverride="true">
		<system.web>
			<securityPolicy>
				<trustLevel name="Full" policyFile="internal"/>
				<trustLevel name="High" policyFile="web_hightrust.config"/>
				<trustLevel name="Medium" policyFile="web_mediumtrust.config"/>
				<trustLevel name="Low" policyFile="web_lowtrust.config"/>
				<trustLevel name="Minimal" policyFile="web_minimaltrust.config"/>
				<trustLevel name="ModifiedMedium" policyFile="modified_mediumtrust.config"/>
			</securityPolicy>
			<trust level="Full" originUrl=""/>
			<!--<identity impersonate="true" username="STUDENT" password="food"/>-->
			<!-- 
            Set compilation debug="true" to insert debugging 
            symbols into the compiled page. Because this 
            affects performance, set this value to true only 
            during development.

            Visual Basic options:
            Set strict="true" to disallow all data type conversions 
            where data loss can occur. 
            Set explicit="true" to force declaration of all variables.
        -->
			<compilation debug="true" strict="false" explicit="true">
				<assemblies>
					<add assembly="Microsoft.Data.Odbc, Version=1.0.3300.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=B77A5C561934E089"/>
					<add assembly="Microsoft.SqlServer.SqlCEDest, Version=9.0.242.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=89845DCD8080CC91"/>
					<add assembly="Microsoft.VisualBasic, Version=8.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=B03F5F7F11D50A3A"/>
				</assemblies>
			</compilation>
			<pages>
				<namespaces>
					<clear/>
					<add namespace="System"/>
					<add namespace="System.Collections"/>
					<add namespace="System.Collections.Specialized"/>
					<add namespace="System.Configuration"/>
					<add namespace="System.Text"/>
					<add namespace="System.Text.RegularExpressions"/>
					<add namespace="System.Web"/>
					<add namespace="System.Web.Caching"/>
					<add namespace="System.Web.SessionState"/>
					<add namespace="System.Web.Security"/>
					<add namespace="System.Web.Profile"/>
					<add namespace="System.Web.UI"/>
					<add namespace="System.Web.UI.WebControls"/>
					<add namespace="System.Web.UI.WebControls.WebParts"/>
					<add namespace="System.Web.UI.HtmlControls"/>
				</namespaces>
			</pages>
			<httpRuntime minFreeThreads="88" minLocalRequestFreeThreads="76" executionTimeout="600000" maxRequestLength="10000"/>
			<!--
            The <authentication> section enables configuration 
            of the security authentication mode used by 
            ASP.NET to identify an incoming user. 
        -->
			<authentication mode="Windows"/>
			<!--
            The <customErrors> section enables configuration 
            of what to do if/when an unhandled error occurs 
            during the execution of a request. Specifically, 
            it enables developers to configure html error pages 
            to be displayed in place of a error stack trace.

        <customErrors mode="RemoteOnly" defaultRedirect="GenericErrorPage.htm">
            <error statusCode="403" redirect="NoAccess.htm" />
            <error statusCode="404" redirect="FileNotFound.htm" />
        </customErrors>
        -->
		</system.web>
	</location>
</configuration>

Thank you in advance for your help.

Answer 4

Hi. This is everything I maximum out from your expression. It is not running, but for example I don't understand what may DateTime(String, Date, Date) do. Neither we have track what type oneRowDone.Item(8) is.

Dim someDate As Date = oneRowDon.Item(8)
Dim someYear As Integer = someDate.Year
Dim firstDayOfSomeYear As Date = New Date(someYear, 1, 1)

Dim julda As Long = CLng(someYear.ToString("D4") + _
                        Format(DateTime("d", firstDayOfSomeYear, someDate) + 1, "000"))

I couldn't ease expression more. But you may try New Date and all its options, SomeDate.ToString and its options (for example myDate.ToString("yyyy") instead Format ( obj, `0000` ). You can try myDate.AddDay(num) etc. I guess this should be some calendar date transformation?

Best wishes, Matt

Answer 5

Yeah, onerowdon.Item(8) is a sql datetime object that is converted to the julian date using that formula.

Answer 6

Ah, I guess DateTime("d", date1, date2) creates Date from date1.Date and date2.TimeOfDay, is it possible, right?

Answer 7

I figured out the problem as I was searching another forum. For some reason DateTime should have been datediff and I don't know when it got switched. Year fixed itself when I added the Microsoft visualbasic namespace and I had to explicitly call format.

julda = CLng(Microsoft.VisualBasic.Format(Year(oneRowDon.Item(8)), "0000") _
                  + Microsoft.VisualBasic.Format(DateDiff("d", CDate("01/01/" _
                  + Microsoft.VisualBasic.Format(Year(oneRowDon.Item(8)), "0000")), oneRowDon.Item(8)) _
                  + 1, "000"))

Answer 8

Hey Friends I know the solution is found for this but I want to share the reason behind that

If you are facing the same problem then just check your reference for Microsoft.SqlServer.Server

which contains the Format type that is why you r getting that error...just remove that reference or if u r using that reference somewhere then just use Microsoft.VisualBasic.Format() instead only using Format()