How to add calendar item using MonoDroid? - calendar

Question

I'm trying to add an event to a calendar on an android device, and I'm using MonoDroid. I found the following example in Java: http://www.androidcookbook.com/Recipe.seam?recipeId=3852
I tried to translate the first code snippet to C#, but I have trouble setting the "beginTime" and "endTime" fields, especially translating from Calendar.getTimeInMillis() to System.DateTime. This is my code:
DateTime epoch = new System.DateTime(1970, 1, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0);
TimeSpan startSpan = fromDate - epoch;
TimeSpan endSpan = toDate - epoch;
Intent intent = new Intent(Intent.ActionEdit);
intent.SetType("vnd.android.cursor.item/event");
intent.PutExtra("beginTime", startSpan.TotalMilliseconds);
intent.PutExtra("endTime", endSpan.TotalMilliseconds);
The result is that the from and to fields are filled with today's date and a time slot with length of one hour.
How do I correctly set begin/end time of the event?

Answer 1

I have used a helper method in the past that has worked out pretty well. Here is a quick sample that should set the date and time properly.
protected override void OnCreate(Bundle bundle)
{
base.OnCreate(bundle);
// Set our view from the "main" layout resource
SetContentView(Resource.Layout.Main);
AddEvent(this, "Sample Event", DateTime.UtcNow, DateTime.UtcNow.AddHours(5));
}
public void AddEvent(Context ctx, String title, DateTime start, DateTime end)
{
var intent = new Intent(Intent.ActionEdit);
intent.SetType("vnd.android.cursor.item/event");
intent.PutExtra("title", title);
intent.PutExtra("beginTime", TimeInMillis(start));
intent.PutExtra("endTime", TimeInMillis(end));
intent.PutExtra("allDay", false);
ctx.StartActivity(intent);
}
private readonly static DateTime jan1970 = new DateTime(1970, 1, 1, 0, 0, 0, DateTimeKind.Utc);
private static Int64 TimeInMillis(DateTime dateTime)
{
return (Int64)(dateTime - jan1970).TotalMilliseconds;
}