C# – .NET Culture-dependent ‘Today’ string

.netc++datetimemonthcalendar

I am writing a month calendar-style control, and need to display a string that indicates today's date. So on an English-culture machine it would show 'Today : 11/02/2009'.

If a different culture happens to be used, such as French, then I would like to use the French word for 'Today'.

Does the .NET platform expose this word as part of the culture information so I can retrieve it automatically? I cannot find anything exposed but maybe I am not looking in the right place.

Best Solution

Old.. but still useful (how old? VB6 old).

Basically Windows keeps a localized version of "Today" in Comctl32.dll. You can fish it out with a a loadstringex call:

Private Const IDM_TODAY As Long = 4163
Private Const IDM_GOTODAY As Long = 4164

Public Function GetTodayLocalized(ByVal LocaleId As Long) As String
    Static hComCtl32 As Long
    Static hComCtl32Initialized As Boolean
    Static hComCtl32MustBeFreed As Boolean

    Dim s As String

    If Not hComCtl32Initialized Then
        hComCtl32 = GetModuleHandle("Comctl32.dll")
        If hComCtl32 <> 0 Then
            hComCtl32MustBeFreed = False
            hComCtl32Initialized = True
        Else
            hComCtl32 = LoadLibrary("Comctl32.Dll")
            If Not hComCtl32 = 0 Then
                hComCtl32MustBeFreed = True
                hComCtl32Initialized = True
            End If
        End If
    End If

    If hComCtl32Initialized = False Then
        s = "Today"
    Else
        s = LoadStringEx(hComCtl32, IDM_TODAY, LocaleId)
        If s = "" Then
            s = "Today"
        End If
    End If

    If hComCtl32MustBeFreed Then
        FreeLibrary hComCtl32
        hComCtl32MustBeFreed = False
        hComCtl32Initialized = False
        hComCtl32 = 0
    End If

    s = Replace(s, "&", "")
    If Right(s, 1) = ":" Then
        s = Left(s, Len(s) - 1)
    End If

    GetTodayLocalized = s
End Function

This is the style that Microsoft tends to use in their examples.

It appears that the guidance in this area may have changed, as StyleCop now enforces the use of the C# specific aliases.

C# – Sending email in .NET through Gmail

Be sure to use System.Net.Mail, not the deprecated System.Web.Mail. Doing SSL with System.Web.Mail is a gross mess of hacky extensions.

using System.Net;
using System.Net.Mail;

var fromAddress = new MailAddress("from@gmail.com", "From Name");
var toAddress = new MailAddress("to@example.com", "To Name");
const string fromPassword = "fromPassword";
const string subject = "Subject";
const string body = "Body";

var smtp = new SmtpClient
{
    Host = "smtp.gmail.com",
    Port = 587,
    EnableSsl = true,
    DeliveryMethod = SmtpDeliveryMethod.Network,
    UseDefaultCredentials = false,
    Credentials = new NetworkCredential(fromAddress.Address, fromPassword)
};
using (var message = new MailMessage(fromAddress, toAddress)
{
    Subject = subject,
    Body = body
})
{
    smtp.Send(message);
}

Additionally go to the Google Account > Security page and look at the Signing in to Google > 2-Step Verification setting.

If it is enabled, then you have to generate a password allowing .NET to bypass the 2-Step Verification. To do this, click on Signing in to Google > App passwords, select app = Mail, and device = Windows Computer, and finally generate the password. Use the generated password in the fromPassword constant instead of your standard Gmail password.
If it is disabled, then you have to turn on Less secure app access, which is not recommended! So better enable the 2-Step verification.

Best Solution

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This is the style that Microsoft tends to use in their examples.

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