Best way to handle date on different PCs...

The most important thing when working with dates is consistency; use explicit formatting at all times

Real World Best Practices for Handling Dates
http://www.codeproject.com/csharp/datetime_best_practices.asp

Thanks for the reply...
To be more direct...

When I debug, this line of code is where my problem is...

If ShowPatient.IsNull("PatDOB") Then
txtDOB.Text = ""
Else : txtDOB.Text = CDate(ShowPatient.PatDOB)

ON the Else line....I can see that the ShowPaitent.PatDOB value is in the MM/DD/YYYY format (coming right out of my database), but when I process this line of code the txtDOB value ends up being M/D/YY which is the wrong format that I am looking for. Does this help clear up what I am looking for?
 

>>
I can see that the ShowPaitent.PatDOB value is in the MM/DD/YYYY format (coming right out of my database)
<<

What datatype is coming out of your database?  If it's a Date (or DateTime) it doesn't come out of the database in any format.  It comes out as a DateTime VALUE.  Such a value (a series of bits) would mean nothing to us mere humans so every time we ask any system to tell us what the value is, it formats it for the purpose of display.  You can tell the various systems what format you would prefer for that display: either in general terms, as some sort of default setting, or on a specific occasion.  But just because (for instance) your Access database is formatting it DD/MM/YYYY when you ask Access to see what it is, that has no bearing on the date VALUE that comes out of the database.  And how the PC on which the app formats it is - as you've discovered - dependent on the settings on that PC, although as Dhaest as illustrated, you can override those default settings with specific formatting.

But I ask the question because it may be that the datatype that is coming out of your database is not a Date (or DateTime) datatype.  Instead it is a String looking, for example, like "01/01/2006".  That that may be the case is indicated by your reference to "ShowPaitent.PatDOB value is in the MM/DD/YYYY format (coming right out of my database)" and by the fact that before you use the value you put it in CDate.  But, if it is indeed a string looking like that, all you would need would be

txtDOB.Text = ShowPatient.PatDOB

Roger

Hey guys, thanks for your suggestions.

Daest: when I use the ToString.("MM/DD/YYY") I end up with a value of (for example) "07/  /   " instead of "07/17/1960".

Sancler: Yes the field is set in my database as a data type of Date/Time with a format of Short Date.

Oh and when I use just txtDOB.Text = ShowPatient.PatDOB then I get 71/16/0 instead of 07/17/1960.

Can you show how you get your data from the database and how you store it into PatDOB

This is how I store/save this field (this is a Masked Textbox set with a mask of 00/00/0000 and set as ShortDate)...
 Dim EditRow As AnesDataSet.PatientInfoRow
 EditRow = AnesDataSet.PatientInfo.FindByPatMRNo(MR)

'Update DOB text
            If txtDOB.Text = "  /  /" Then
                EditRow.PatDOB = Nothing
            Else
                EditRow.PatDOB = txtDOB.Text
            End If

This is how I show/get the infomation...
 Dim ShowPatient As AnesDataSet.PatientInfoRow
 PatientInfoTableAdapter1.Fill(AnesDataSet.PatientInfo)
 ShowPatient = AnesDataSet.PatientInfo.FindByPatMRNo(MR)

'DOB text
        If ShowPatient.IsNull("PatDOB") Then
            txtDOB.Text = ""
        Else : txtDOB.Text = (ShowPatient.PatDOB).ToString("MM/DD/YYYY")
            'Else : txtDOB.Text = ShowPatient.PatDOB
            'Else : txtDOB.Text = CDATE(ShowPatient.PatDOB)

I always write the date as a string in the database,
best way is YYYYMMDD.

I've had some troubles before with dates on different machines wiht USA format or European format etc.

I discided to use Strings.

Yup that was it. Thanks very much to both Dhaest and Sancler for your help!