Re: Date/Time formatting using std::time_get::get() in VC++ 2010

I was wondering if anybody could help me with this one.

I am a little confused with the following code snippet. I am basically
using it to generate a tm structure out of a stringified date/time
input which looks like mm/dd/yy hh:mm (or dd/mm/yy hh:mm if the locale
is UK).

std::time_get::get() (which seems to be non-standard but available in
VC++ 2010) however takes in a format specifier that has to mention a
particular format at compile time.

the constructed locale object which fills itself with the appropriate
locale information based on the user's regional settings at runtime.
How do I ensure that the format specifier is in tune with the locale?

For example, std::time_get::get_date() works correctly if you enter
14/12/12 in the UK and fails expectedly when you run the same in the
US for this input. and unlike get(), get_date() does not ask for a
format specifier. I am trying to use time_get::get() because I don't
want to break my string into tokens and call get_date() and get_time()
individually.

(docs for time_get::get() is

std::locale loc("");
std::stringstream date;
date.imbue(loc);
date << "14-12-11 12:22";

std::istreambuf_iterator<char> begin(date.rdbuf());
std::istreambuf_iterator<char> end;
// this example works only because the format specifier is right.
// Then how does the locale object help here?
std::string format_spec = "%d-%m-%y %H:%M";
std::ios_base::iostate st = std::ios::goodbit;
struct tm t = { 0 };

std::use_facet<std::time_get<char>>(loc).get(begin, end, date, st,
                                        &t, format_spec.c_str(),
                                        format_spec.c_str() +
format_spec.length());

if (st & std::ios::failbit)
{
    std::cout << "Wrong input!!";}

else
{
    cout << "month = " << t.tm_mon + 1 << "; day = " << t.tm_mday <<
"; year = "
         << t.tm_year + 1900 << std::endl;
    cout << "hour = " << t.tm_hour << "; min = " << t.tm_min << "; sec
= "
         << t.tm_sec << std::endl;

}