Showing Difference between two datetime values in hours

Question

I am retrieving two date time values from the database. Once the value is retrieved, I need the difference between the two values. For that, I create a timespan variable to store the difference of the 2 date values.

TimeSpan? variable = datevalue1 - datevalue2;

Now i need to show the difference which is stored in the Timespan variable in terms of number of hours. I referred to TimeSpan.TotalHours but couldn't apply the same for some reason. How do I do that? I am using C# on a MVC project. I simple need to show the difference value in hours?

EDIT: Since timespan was nullable, i couldn't use the total hours property. Now I can use it by doing TimeSpanVal.Value.TotalHours;

is it because my timespan is nullable that i cannot use the totalhours property? — reggie, Feb 09 '11 at 14:46
See example of datetime difference, Hours Difference, Minutes difference on http://www.codegateway.com/2012/01/c-datetime-difference.html — , Feb 29 '12 at 17:35

score 218 · Answer 1 · answered Feb 09 '11 at 14:44

218

you may also want to look at

var hours = (datevalue1 - datevalue2).TotalHours;

answered Feb 09 '11 at 14:44

MarkKGreenway

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but in this case system shows " 'System.Nullable' does not contain a definition for 'TotalHours' and no extension method 'TotalHours' accepting a first argument of type 'System.Nullable' could be found ". Can you please tell me the reason for it? – Neha May 06 '15 at 11:06
8

Nullable would need a .Value.TotalHours instead of just .TotalHours. It's a factor of the nullable wrapping. You could alternatively cast it as a timespan --> ((TimeSpan) (nullabledatevalue1 - nullabledatevalue2)).TotalHours – MarkKGreenway May 06 '15 at 15:58

score 129 · Accepted Answer · answered Feb 09 '11 at 14:44

129

I think you're confused because you haven't declared a TimeSpan you've declared a TimeSpan? which is a nullable TimeSpan. Either remove the question mark if you don't need it to be nullable or use variable.Value.TotalHours.

answered Feb 09 '11 at 14:44

Hans Olsson

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score 101 · Answer 3 · edited Aug 30 '19 at 02:25

In the sample, we are creating two datetime objects, one with current time and another one with 75 seconds added to the current time. Then we will call the method .Subtract() on the second DateTime object. This will return a TimeSpan object. Once we get the TimeSpan object, we can use the properties of TimeSpan to get the actual Hours, Minutes and Seconds.

DateTime startTime = DateTime.Now;

 DateTime endTime = DateTime.Now.AddSeconds( 75 );

 TimeSpan span = endTime.Subtract ( startTime );
 Console.WriteLine( "Time Difference (seconds): " + span.Seconds );
 Console.WriteLine( "Time Difference (minutes): " + span.Minutes );
 Console.WriteLine( "Time Difference (hours): " + span.Hours );
 Console.WriteLine( "Time Difference (days): " + span.Days );

Result:

Time Difference (seconds): 15
Time Difference (minutes): 1
Time Difference (hours): 0
Time Difference (days): 0

You want to use "Total" such as `TotalSeconds`, `TotalMinutes` etc — Filip Ekberg, Feb 09 '11 at 14:44

score 39 · Answer 4 · answered Feb 09 '11 at 14:43

39

Is there a reason you're using Nullable?

If you want to use Nullable then you can write variable.Value.TotalHours.

Or you can just write: (datevalue1 - datevalue2).TotalHours.

answered Feb 09 '11 at 14:43

Ilya Kogan

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Probably because datevalue1 or datevalue2 are `DateTime?` – Filip Ekberg Feb 09 '11 at 14:44
@Filip, it's ok, they should be `DateTime`. In .NET, `DateTime - DateTime = TimeSpan`. – Ilya Kogan Feb 09 '11 at 14:46
1

@Illya, I mean that They are probably `Nullable` and therefore you get a `Nullable`. – Filip Ekberg Feb 09 '11 at 14:47
Your answer is really effective. I was looking for it. – gdmanandamohon Jul 31 '17 at 05:35

score 7 · Answer 5 · edited Sep 09 '14 at 07:03

7

Here is another example of subtracting two dates in C# ...

if ( DateTime.Now.Subtract(Convert.ToDateTime(objDateValueFromDatabase.CreatedOn)).TotalHours > 24 ) 
{ 
... 
}

edited Sep 09 '14 at 07:03

Kiquenet

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answered May 05 '14 at 14:06

Mario Levesque

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score 4 · Answer 6 · answered Apr 26 '18 at 12:36

a more precise way for employee paid hours or other precision requirement::

decimal DeterminePreciseHours(DateTime startTimestamp, DateTime stopTimestamp)
{
    var span = (stopTimestamp - startTimestamp).Value;
    decimal total = (decimal)span.TotalMilliseconds / 60 / 60 / 1000;
    return Math.Round(total, PRECISION_CONSTANT);
}

https://dotnetfiddle.net/tVIoVJ

score 1 · Answer 7 · answered Oct 09 '17 at 14:37

var startTime = new TimeSpan(6, 0, 0); // 6:00 AM
var endTime = new TimeSpan(5, 30, 0); // 5:30 AM 
var hours24 = new TimeSpan(24, 0, 0);
var difference = endTime.Subtract(startTime); // (-00:30:00)
difference = (difference.Duration() != difference) ? hours24.Subtract(difference.Duration()) : difference; // (23:30:00)

can also add difference between the dates if we compare two different dates

new TimeSpan(24 * days, 0, 0)

Rusty Nail · Answer 8 · 2019-07-07T10:55:42.830

0

WOW, I gotta say: keep it simple:

MessageBox.Show("Result: " + (DateTime.Now.AddDays(10) > DateTime.Now));

Result: True

and:

MessageBox.Show("Result: " + DateTime.Now.AddDays(10).Subtract(DateTime.Now));

Result: 10.00:00:00

The DateTime object has all the builtin logic to handle the Boolean result.

edited Jul 07 '19 at 10:55

answered Jul 07 '19 at 10:50

Rusty Nail

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Showing Difference between two datetime values in hours

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