cast UTC

[Keith444]

Hi can someone help me i have 2 list boxes

1. Times = 08:00:00
2. Date = 12/12/2006

i need to convert this 2 list boxes to a datetime format then i need to convert the datetime to the server time, i have been told i need to cast it to UTC,

but not sure how to do this, any example code would be good

Many thanks

Keith

[Newsgroup_User]

Keith444 wrote:
> Hi can someone help me i have 2 list boxes
>
> 1. Times = 08:00:00
> 2. Date = 12/12/2006
>
> i need to convert this 2 list boxes to a datetime format then i need to
> convert the datetime to the server time, i have been told i need to cast it to
> UTC,
>
> but not sure how to do this, any example code would be good


<cfscript>
aTime="08:00:00";
aDate="12/12/2006";

// long way round
hour=listFirst(aTime,":");
minute=listGetAt(aTime,2,":");
second=listLast(aTime,":");
// you need to know your locale here, which came first, chicken or egg?
// assumming m/d/y, ie en_US
year=listLast(aDate,"/");
month=listFirst(aDate,"/");
day=listGetAt(aDate,2,"/");
aRealDate=createDateTime(year,month,day,hour,minute,second);
writeoutput("long way round:=#aRealDate#<br>");

//shortcut, again you still need to know locale
anotherDate=lsParseDateTime(aDate);
hours=hour+minute/60+second/360;
anotherRealDate=dateAdd("h",hours,anotherDate);
writeoutput("shortcut:=#anotherRealDate#");
</cfscript>

[Keith444]

Hi Many thanks,

where you say "you need to know your locale here"

will this be the server locale or the locale time of the user?

if its the user i can get the user to select a time zone and have it stored in my database, if i do this what value would enter to my table?

[Newsgroup_User]

Keith444 wrote:
> where you say "you need to know your locale here"
> will this be the server locale or the locale time of the user?

user.

> if its the user i can get the user to select a time zone and have it stored in
> my database, if i do this what value would enter to my table?

still need to know the date format you're showing to them.

[MikerRoo]

It doesn't have to be this complicated!
The CRITICAL thing, as Paul has hinted, is that you understand the date syntax the USER is using (mm/dd/yy, dd/mm/yy, etc.) and that you know and store the user's timezone offset.

See the attached.

[Newsgroup_User]

MikerRoo wrote:
> It doesn't have to be this complicated!
> The CRITICAL thing, as Paul has hinted, is that you understand the date syntax
> the USER is using (mm/dd/yy, dd/mm/yy, etc.) and that you know and store the
> user's timezone offset.

once again, "no". you cannot simply store the offset. you need to manage the
complete timezone, otherwise DST differences will eventually bite you.

[Keith444]

ok Paul,

the user has to list boxes with time format of hh:mm & date format dd/mm/yyyy

but what do i need to store in my table for the users time zone?

so say if user Craig has a time zone of Melbourne Australia, and i have a column in my table called timezone for each user what goes in there?

[BKBK]

> say if user Craig has a time zone of Melbourne Australia, and i have a column in
> my table called timezone for each user what goes in there?
Remember that timezone is not just one property, but a set of properties, including offset, daylight savings, and so on.

Your "Melbourne Australia" amounts to the timezone ID called "Australia/Melbourne". So, I would convert the column's name to timezoneID instead.

You will get the list of timezone IDs by running

<cfset tz_id=createobject("java", "java.util.TimeZone").getAvailableIDs()>
<cfdump var="#tz_id#">

You will get the timezone information for the ID "Australia/Melbourne" by running

<cfset tz=createobject("java", "java.util.TimeZone").getTimeZone("Australia/Melbourne")>
<cfoutput>#tz#</cfoutput>

[Newsgroup_User]

Keith444 wrote:
> but what do i need to store in my table for the users time zone?

their chosen tz id. i've used the latest icu4j lib to pull out tz IDs by
country, you can grab the CSV data from:

http://www.susteinableGIS.com/projects/tz/tzByCountry.zip

push that data into your database, when you offer tz choices to your users,
select the tz from that table by country. for instance this gets all the tz for
australia:

<cfquery datasource="lab" name="tz">
SELECT timezone
FROM timezones
WHERE countryISO3166='AU'
</cfquery>

then use the tz ID they choose in the timezone CFC i mentioned in one of your
other threads.

[Newsgroup_User]

PaulH **AdobeCommunityExpert** wrote:
> http://www.susteinableGIS.com/projects/tz/tzByCountry.zip

i really should learn to spell, that should be:

http://www.sustainablegis.com/projects/tz/tzByCountry.zip

[MikerRoo]

quote:

---

Originally posted by: Newsgroup User
once again, "no". you cannot simply store the offset. you need to manage the
complete timezone, otherwise DST differences will eventually bite you.

---

Not really. The simple system is good enough 98% of the time. Maybe there is a small chance that it won't work for a few days for a few oddballs (odds are, non of the OP's customers). But, then again, those oddballs will be used to it (rather like "Tonee" always having to correct others on how her name is spelled) so no real damage there.

You've already given the OP your CFC system -- which is the smart and more correct way to go. He resisted.
Barring that, the simple system is better than most web sites and quite likely good enough.

[Newsgroup_User]

MikerRoo wrote:
> Not really. The simple system is good enough 98% of the time. Maybe there

mike that's not good advice. if you're bothering w/timezone at all, then all DST
differences *are* important. coming from australia (i guess) i'd think you'd get
it more than most folks (DST changes to accommodate TV for the commonwealth
games, the recent WA "oops" tz changes, etc.).

at least i dug out the tz by country data 😉 maybe somebody will find that useful.

[MikerRoo]

You're right. I just thought that since OP wasn't seeming to grok the 100% solution (with free CFC's already built) that a "close enough" solution would get him further along the the desired path.

I withdraw the suggestion, above.

[Keith444]

ok many thanlks paul nearly there i think?

if you look at url www.thesmsengine.com/times.cfm

is this ok for formats?

if so what will i need to put on my action page to convert this to server time

many thanks once again

Keith

[Newsgroup_User]

Keith444 wrote:
> <td><select name="times">

terrible var name for timezones....


<cfscript>
// or wherever you put the timezone CFC
tz=createObject("component","cfc.i18n.timeZone");
// assuming this is user's locale, you need to manage these
setLocale("en_AU");
smsDate=lsParseDateTime(form.SMS_Date);
hours=listFirst(SMS_Time,":")+listGetAt(SMS_Time,2,":")/60+listLast(SMS_Time,":")/360;
smsDate=dateAdd("h",hours,smsDate);
// shortcut method i forgot about
serverDate=tz.castToServer(smsDate,form.times);
</cfscript>

[Keith444]

ok yes i changed it from times to converttimes


what will be the varible the i can insert into my table as the server time?

will it be ServerDate

many thanks

[Newsgroup_User]

Keith444 wrote:
> will it be ServerDate

yes.

[Newsgroup_User]

"or wherever you put the timezone CFC"

Could not find the ColdFusion Component cfc.i18n.timeZone.

[Keith444]

still dont understand, i have uploaded the timezone.cfc

what else do i need to do

[Newsgroup_User]

Keith444 wrote:
> still dont understand, i have uploaded the timezone.cfc

where?

in the case of the example, "cfc.i18n.timeZone", "cfc" is a cf mapped dir
pointing at "c:\cfc\"

that cfc is in c:\cfc\i18n\timezone.cfc & referred to in cf programs as
cfc.i18n.timezone

you can put the cfc anywhere you want as long as you & cf know. if you don't
want to bother w/cf map dir, put the cfc in the same dir as the page calling it
& simple refer to it as "timezone":

tz=createObject("component","timeZone");

[Keith444]

ok yes sorted it, now i just need to set my local

at the min it is "2en_AU"

does this need to be the server local time? if so i need this to be brisbane/australia i have tried it but dont work any ideas

or

does it need to be the users local? if so what value do i need from the timezone list box?

[tooMuchTrouble]

the locale needs to be a java or cf standard locale ID such as "en_AU" not something you made up yourself.

not following the rest of your question.

[Keith444]

ok so what is the cf standard for brisbane australia

just not sure where the form element coneverttime comes into the action page? thought i need to know what timezone the user is in?

<select name="converttimes">
<cfoutput query="tz">
<option value="#tz.timezone#">#tz.timezone#</option>
</cfoutput>
</select>

[BKBK]

> ok so what is the cf standard for brisbane australia
Didn't you see what I wrote in answer to your similar question about Melbourne?

[Newsgroup_User]

Keith444 wrote:
> ok so what is the cf standard for brisbane australia

you are confusing locale & timezone (tz). from what you've posted before you
need both. locale to handle the date string parsing. tz to handle, well, timezones.