I was wondering, is there a way to create a timestamp in c# from a datetime? I need a millisecond precision value that also works in Compact Framework(saying that since DateTime.ToBinary() does not exist in CF).
My problem is that i want to store this value in a database agnostic way so i can sortby it later and find out which value is greater from another etc.
This question is related to
c#
timestamp
compact-framework
database-agnostic
time-precision
You can also use
Stopwatch.GetTimestamp().ToString();
when you need in a timestamp in seconds, you can use the following:
var timestamp = (int)(DateTime.Now.ToUniversalTime() - new DateTime(1970, 1, 1)).TotalSeconds;
You could use the DateTime.Ticks property, which is a long and universal storable, always increasing and usable on the compact framework as well. Just make sure your code isn't used after December 31st 9999 ;)
I believe you can create a unix style datestamp accurate to a second using the following
//Find unix timestamp (seconds since 01/01/1970)
long ticks = DateTime.UtcNow.Ticks - DateTime.Parse("01/01/1970 00:00:00").Ticks;
ticks /= 10000000; //Convert windows ticks to seconds
timestamp = ticks.ToString();
Adjusting the denominator allows you to choose your level of precision
If you want timestamps that correspond to actual real times BUT also want them to be unique (for a given application instance), you can use the following code:
public class HiResDateTime
{
private static long lastTimeStamp = DateTime.UtcNow.Ticks;
public static long UtcNowTicks
{
get
{
long orig, newval;
do
{
orig = lastTimeStamp;
long now = DateTime.UtcNow.Ticks;
newval = Math.Max(now, orig + 1);
} while (Interlocked.CompareExchange
(ref lastTimeStamp, newval, orig) != orig);
return newval;
}
}
}
Source: Stackoverflow.com