[asp.net-mvc] Format datetime in asp.net mvc 4

How can I force the format of datetime in asp.net mvc 4 ? In display mode it shows as I want but in edit model it doesn't. I am using displayfor and editorfor and applyformatineditmode=true with dataformatstring="{0:dd/MM/yyyy}" What I have tried:

• globalization in web.config (both of them) with my culture and uiculture.
• modifying the culture and uiculture in application_start()
• custom modelbinder for datetime

I have no idea how to force it and I need to input the date as dd/MM/yyyy not the default.

MORE INFO: my viewmodel is like this

    [DisplayName("date of birth")]
    [DataType(DataType.Date)]
    [DisplayFormat(DataFormatString = "{0:dd/MM/yyyy}", ApplyFormatInEditMode = true)]
    public DateTime? Birth { get; set; }

in view I use @Html.DisplayFor(m=>m.Birth) but this works as expected (I see the formatting) and to input the date I use @Html.EditorFor(m=>m.Birth) but if I try and input something like 13/12/2000 is fails with the error that it is not a valid date (12/13/2000 and 2000/12/13 are working as expected but I need dd/MM/yyyy).

The custom modelbinder is called in application_start() b/c I don't know where else.

Using <globalization/> I have tried with culture="ro-RO", uiCulture="ro" and other cultures that would give me dd/MM/yyyy. I have also tried to set it on a per thread basis in application_start() (there are a lot of examples here, on how to do this)

For all that will read this question: It seems that Darin Dimitrov's answer will work as long as I don't have client validation. Another approach is to use custom validation including client side validation. I'm glad I found this out before recreating the entire application.

Client validation issues can occur because of MVC bug (even in MVC 5) in jquery.validate.unobtrusive.min.js which does not accept date/datetime format in any way. Unfortunately you have to solve it manually.

My finally working solution:

$(function () {
    $.validator.methods.date = function (value, element) {
        return this.optional(element) || moment(value, "DD.MM.YYYY", true).isValid();
    }
});

You have to include before:

@Scripts.Render("~/Scripts/jquery-3.1.1.js")
@Scripts.Render("~/Scripts/jquery.validate.min.js")
@Scripts.Render("~/Scripts/jquery.validate.unobtrusive.min.js")
@Scripts.Render("~/Scripts/moment.js")

You can install moment.js using:

Install-Package Moment.js

Thanks Darin, For me, to be able to post to the create method, It only worked after I modified the BindModel code to :

public override object BindModel(ControllerContext controllerContext, ModelBindingContext bindingContext)
{
    var displayFormat = bindingContext.ModelMetadata.DisplayFormatString;
    var value = bindingContext.ValueProvider.GetValue(bindingContext.ModelName);

    if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(displayFormat) && value != null)
    {
        DateTime date;
        displayFormat = displayFormat.Replace("{0:", string.Empty).Replace("}", string.Empty);
        // use the format specified in the DisplayFormat attribute to parse the date
         if (DateTime.TryParse(value.AttemptedValue, CultureInfo.GetCultureInfo("en-GB"), DateTimeStyles.None, out date))
        {
            return date;
        }
        else
        {
            bindingContext.ModelState.AddModelError(
                bindingContext.ModelName,
                string.Format("{0} is an invalid date format", value.AttemptedValue)
            );
        }
    }

    return base.BindModel(controllerContext, bindingContext);
}

Hope this could help someone else...