Conditional check of DateTime in x-kendo-template - kendo-ui

Question

Approved is a DateTime in my model. approvedDate is a Datetime variable in my Razor view. The script block is inside the same Razor view.
I want to test Approved to see if it is before approvedDate, and replace it with a empty string "" if it is, inside the x-kendo-template detail-template.
#{ var approvedDate = DateTime.Parse("01-01-2016"); }
<script id="detail-template" type="text/x-kendo-template">
<ul>
< li>#if (# #= Approved # # < #approvedDate) {# ""#}else{# #= kendo.toString(Approved, "MM-dd-yyyy") # #}#</li>
</ul>
</script>
The above syntax causes the detail-template script to fail.
What is the syntax to make this if statement work?

Answer 1

There were two problems, a syntax one and using a Razor DateTime variable in the conditional.
I have both an if else and a ternary syntax working and have converted the Razor variable to a javascript Date.
#{ var approvedDate = "01-01-2015"; }
<script id="tab_template" type="text/kendo-tmpl">
# var approvedDate = new Date(Date.parse(#approvedDate)); #
...
<li><label>Test1: </label>#if (Applied < approvedDate ) {# #: kendo.toString(Applied, "MM-dd-yyyy") # #}else{# Fail #}#</li>
<li><label>Test2: </label>#if (Applied > approvedDate ) {# #: kendo.toString(Applied, "MM-dd-yyyy") # #}else{# Fail #}#</li>
<li><label>Test3:</label>#= Applied < approvedDate ? kendo.toString(Applied, "MM-dd-yyyy") : "Fail" #</li>
<li><label>Test4:</label>#= Applied > approvedDate ? kendo.toString(Applied, "MM-dd-yyyy") : "Fail" #</li>
...
</script>
The following was displayed:
Test1: Fail
Test2: 08-22-2015
Test3: Fail
Test4: 08-22-2015
I changed it a bit from the OP. It now displays Applied if the condition passes and 'Fail' if it failed. Now that the two issues have been resolved the code could be easily modified to the original behavior.