title: Converting various date formats into a single date object
body: <p>I have a table in SQL Server 2008 R2 with a <code>nvarchar(50)</code> column which stores different formats of date such as <code>'dd/mm/yyyy'</code>, <code>'mm/dd/yyyy'</code>, <code>'yyyy-mm-dd'</code>, etc.</p>
  
  <p>Now I am writing a procedure that will convert/cast this column as a date type. Something as below:</p>
  
  <pre><code>SELECT CONVERT(DATE, Column1) as [Date]
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>But due to varying formats of date I tend to get the following error in my C# application:</p>
  
  <blockquote>
    <p>"Conversion failed when converting date and/or time from character string"</p>
  </blockquote>
  
  <p>I know of a function <code>TRY_CONVERT</code> and <code>TRY_PARSE</code> which can solve this problem but it's only available in SQL Server 2012 and above. Any workaround for this in SQL Server 2008?</p>