Hello Techies,
Today we are going to create two functions that make your life easy and handle different times and make your application or web completely dynamic within different time zones.
Overview
In this internet world, we don't have any idea which person is accessing our application from which country, and our application doesn't have any idea about the time duration in the device and because of that issue sometimes our application is going to crash or giving an unreliable result to the user. So,we have to handle the different times for different countries.
What is Time Zone?
The Time Zonehas some parameters, one is offset, or we can say a difference between two times in an hour, which you can see in the times for different countries. Let's say right now in India the current time is 12:59 AM then at the same time in Canada the time is 2:29 AM. so, we can see the difference in the time is defined by the Time Zone
Now, the question is how does this Time Zone showthe difference with different countries, Rrght?
So, every country has its own time difference compared to other countries. Like we compare Indian time zone with Canadian time zone where India is 10 hours and 30 minutes ahead of Ottawa for example.
Now, to show this difference there is a universal timezone which is global timezone that shows the difference in terms of the hours and minute. So, when we compare Indian time with the UTC whereIndia is 5 hours and 30 minutes ahead of Coordinated Universal Time and UTC time with Canadian whereCoordinated Universal Time is 5 hours ahead of Ottawa. Ultimately it becomes the 10 hours and 30 minutes,
Now, let's check how it shows the difference, for example, Indian UTC timezone isUTC+05:30 and Canadian UTC timezone isUTC-05:30. So, here values like the +5:30 and -5:30 are called the offset, and it adds or subtract the hours:minutes based on your conversion with reference to UTC.
Requirement
For this solution, we need to import one packageinto our project which is TimeZoneConverter.
Which we can install directly from the NuGet package manager window or package manager console.
- To install it with the help of NuGet Package manager, Go To Tools → NuGet Package Manager→ Manage NuGet Packages for Solution. And then search the TimeZoneConverterin Browse tab and install it.
- To install it with the help of Package Manager Console, Go ToTools → NuGet Package Manager→ Package Manager Console and copy the following command and paste it inside the console and install it.
Install-Package TimeZoneConverter ORInstall-Package TimeZoneConverter -Version 5.0.0I have added two commands, one is with the -Version <version number parameter> which is optional if you want to install it with the specific version, and if you want to install the latest package then you can use the first command.
Solution
Now, let's quickly move on to our solution and what we are going to do over here is we are going to take a current time zone and time and with respect to the timezone we are going to convert it to the UTC time zone to store the time in the database, and we are going to perform the operation on the UTC time zone and at the time of getting the data from the database we are again going to convert it to the current time with respect to timezone.
Convert to UTC with Specific Time Zone
Currently, we are using the c# for this function, and we can use it as a library as well.
localDateTime = DateTime.SpecifyKind(localDateTime, DateTimeKind.Unspecified)This method is used to create a new DateTime object which has the same number of ticks as the specified DateTime but is designated as either local time, Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), or neither, as indicated by the specifiedDateTimeKindvalue.
Over here, we have specified this date time as unspecified because we have a timezone we want to convert it to the UTC time with respect to the timezone which we have. So, we have to mark the kind as unspecified.
NOTE: Mostly the Developer uses the ToUnivesalTime() function to convert time to UTC, but it results in inconsistent output if timezone is not same, which basically takes deployed environment's timezone as reference.
DateTime localDateTime = DateTime.SpecifyKind(localDateTime, DateTimeKind.Unspecified);TimeZoneInfo ut = TimeZoneInfo.FindSystemTimeZoneById(TZConvert.IanaToWindows(timezone));Now, we have unspecified the kind, and we are moving towardsgetting our windows type time zone. So, firstly, let's just narrow down the above code to understand more about the conversion functions.
TZConvert.IanaToWindows(timeZone)The above code is from the package which we have imported and what it does is we have a database of the different type of the timezone from one there is a IANA/Olson Time Zone Database. For more information about the different timezone type, you can visitDifferent Time Zone Database.
So, we are using this IANA Database, so it stores the time zone as "America/New_York" for example, and we require something like this "Eastern Standard Time" which is used to convert by our c# functions.
So, we are using this function to translate the IANA time zone to our windows type, and it returns the string which is of windows time timezone.
var WindowsTimeZone=TZConvert.IanaToWindows(timeZone);TimeZoneInfo ut=TimeZoneInfo.FindSystemTimeZoneById(WindowsTimeZone);Now, the first line is the same to convert IANA timezone to windows and store to variable.
Now the TimeZoneInfo. FineSystemTimeZoneById is taking the windows type timezone as argument and matches it with the local system's key and returns an object of the information about the offset, current time and many more information. Which can be used by the other functions.
In short, this functions returns us information about the windows type timezone by key which we have passed as argument.
var WindowsTimeZone=TZConvert.IanaToWindows(timeZone);TimeZoneInfo ut=TimeZoneInfo.FindSystemTimeZoneById(WindowsTimeZone);DateTime localDateTime = TimeZoneInfo.ConvertTimeToUtc(localDateTime, ut);Now, the line 3 in the above code "TimeZoneInfo. ConvertTimeToUtc" is going to take the windows type timezone object and take the necessary information about the timezone like the Offset and add/subtract it with the localDateTime and returns us a date which is in the UTC with respect to the timezone which we have specified as second argument.
Now, let's just create a function for that, which takes the date time and timezone and returns us a time in UTC with respect to the specified timezone.
public static DateTime ConvertLocalToUTCwithTimeZone(DateTime localDateTime,string timezone){ localDateTime = DateTime.SpecifyKind(localDateTime, DateTimeKind.Unspecified); TimeZoneInfo ut = TimeZoneInfo.FindSystemTimeZoneById(TZConvert.IanaToWindows(timezone)); return TimeZoneInfo.ConvertTimeToUtc(localDateTime, ut);}UTC To Specific Time Zone
Now, we have checked with the functions which returns us the UTC date time with respect to the Time Zone but now what if we want to get the date time from the UTC with respect to the timezone. So, let's check out the following code:
var WindowsTypeTimeZone = TZConvert.IanaToWindows(timeZone);var TimeZoneInfo=TimeZoneInfo.FindSystemTimeZoneById(WindowsTypeTimeZone);TimeZoneInfo.ConvertTimeFromUtc(Date,TimeZoneInfo);Now, As we have already checked, the code which returns us the UTC time. So, as per that, we have a code to get the date time for specific timezone from UTC is similar to that.
On First line, we are translating the IANA type timezone to windows type timezone.
In the second line, we are getting the information about the windows type timezone.
Now in the third line we have directly converted the UTC Date timeto particular date time with respect to the timezone which we have specified.
NOTE : To Convert time From UTC we have not specified any kind as we know this is the UTC date time from which we have to convert to specific timezone.
Let's just create a function for the same, which we can reuse in our project.
public static DateTime getLocaltimeFromUniversal(DateTime utcDateTime, string timeZone){ return TimeZoneInfo.ConvertTimeFromUtc(utcDateTime, TimeZoneInfo.FindSystemTimeZoneById(TZConvert.IanaToWindows(timeZone)));}Convert DateTime to Specific Time Zone
Now, If we want to convert time to specific time, we can reuse both function and create a new function which directly returns you the time of the specific timezone from the particular timezone of time.
Let's say, I have a time in IST and I don't want to handle this different time in the code and want the single function call which returns me the time of specific time.
public static DateTime GetTimeofTimeZone(localDateTime,FromTimeZone,ToTimeZone){ DateTime utcTime=ConvertLocalToUTCwithTimeZone(localDateTime,FromTimeZone); return getLocaltimeFromUniversal(utcTime,ToTimeZone);}Now, What the above function does is taking the three arguments on is the DateTime which you want to convert, the timezone of the date time, and third is the time zone in which you convert your date time.
To Calculate all this,
- First we call the function to get UTC time with time zone and date we got
- Secondly, we will call the function to local time with the UTC date which got from the first function call and timezone in which we want to convert
- in result, it returns me the date time in resultant time zone.
Create Class For Class Library
Now, If we want to make it as the class library, and then we have to reuse in the different projects then you can use the following class and import as the class library and debug it and prepare a DLL of it, and you can import that DLL and reuse it in your different projects.
using System;using TimeZoneConverter;namespace TimeZoneHelper{ public static class TimezoneHelper { public static DateTime getLocaltimeFromUniversal(DateTime utcDateTime, string timeZone) { return TimeZoneInfo.ConvertTimeFromUtc(utcDateTime, TimeZoneInfo.FindSystemTimeZoneById(TZConvert.IanaToWindows(timeZone))); } public static DateTime ConvertLocalToUTCwithTimeZone(DateTime localDateTime,string timezone){localDateTime = DateTime.SpecifyKind(localDateTime, DateTimeKind.Unspecified);return TimeZoneInfo.ConvertTimeToUtc(localDateTime, TimeZoneInfo.FindSystemTimeZoneById(TZConvert.IanaToWindows(timezone)));} }}I also have attached one zip file with this Article, which contains the above class file and one DLL file. A DLL file is a class library file which you can use with different project as reference.
I hope this is helpful to you, for you to make your application dynamic.
FAQs
How to convert DateTime to specific timezone in C#? ›
To do this, we will use the FindSystemTimeZoneById() of TimeZoneInfo class. This function takes Id as a parameter to return the equivalent time in timezone passed. In the example below, we are taking the current system time and converting it into “Central Standard Time”. DateTime currentTime = TimeZoneInfo.
How to work with different time zones in C#? ›- namespace ConsoleApplication6.
- {
- class Program.
- static void Main(string[] args)
- {
- ReadOnlyCollection<TimeZoneInfo> zones = TimeZoneInfo.GetSystemTimeZones();
- Console.WriteLine("The local system has the following {0} time zones \n", zones.Count);
The following example converts Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) to Central Time. let timeUtc = DateTime. UtcNow try let cstZone = TimeZoneInfo. FindSystemTimeZoneById "Central Standard Time" let cstTime = TimeZoneInfo.
How to read DateTime with timezone? ›A time zone offset of "+hh:mm" indicates that the date/time uses a local time zone which is "hh" hours and "mm" minutes ahead of UTC. A time zone offset of "-hh:mm" indicates that the date/time uses a local time zone which is "hh" hours and "mm" minutes behind UTC.
How do I convert timestamps to different time zones? ›- ZonedDateTime instant = ZonedDateTime. ...
- 2022-02-16T18:36:14.509742500+05:30[Asia/Calcutta] 2022-02-16T13:06:14.509742500Z[UTC]
- OffsetDateTime now = OffsetDateTime. ...
- 2022-02-16T18:36:14.509742500+05:30 2022-02-16T13:06:14.509742500Z[UTC]
ToUniversalTime() Method in C# This method is used to convert the value of the current DateTime object to Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). Syntax: public DateTime ToUniversalTime ();
How do you handle time zone differences at work? ›- Use online tools. Effective communication and collaboration often come down to one thing: using the right online tools. ...
- Keep an open line of communication. ...
- Set expectations. ...
- Don't micromanage. ...
- Ask for regular feedback.
If you have a DateTime object representing a GMT or UTC time, you can easily convert it to local time by calling the ToLocalTime() method on it. This will take into account the UTC offset for your timezone and daylight savings time. DateTime now = DateTime. Now; DateTime gmt = now.
How do you convert UTC time to local time zone? ›Examples of how to convert UTC to your local time
To convert 18:00 UTC (6:00 p.m.) into your local time, subtract 6 hours, to get 12 noon CST. During daylight saving (summer) time, you would only subtract 5 hours, so 18:00 UTC would convert to 1:00 p.m CDT. Note that the U.S. uses a 12-hour format with a.m. and p.m.
DateTime itself contains no real timezone information. It may know if it's UTC or local, but not what local really means. DateTimeOffset is somewhat better - that's basically a UTC time and an offset.
How do you parse a date in UTC? ›
The parse() method takes a date string (such as "2011-10-10T14:48:00" ) and returns the number of milliseconds since January 1, 1970, 00:00:00 UTC. This function is useful for setting date values based on string values, for example in conjunction with the setTime() method and the Date object.
What does +0000 mean in datetime? ›Universal Time
Weather forecasts and observations are always made with respect to time. By convention, meteorologists use just one time zone: Universal Time, Coordinated (UTC). They also use the twenty four hour clock (where 0000 = midnight UTC).
- Install pytz module if not installed using the pip install pytz command.
- Use the pytz.timezone('region_name') function to create the timezone object.
- Use the datetime. now(timezone_obj) or datetime. datetime('timezone') function to create the timezone aware current datetime.
The T doesn't really stand for anything. It is just the separator that the ISO 8601 combined date-time format requires. You can read it as an abbreviation for Time. The Z stands for the Zero timezone, as it is offset by 0 from the Coordinated Universal Time (UTC).
Is timestamp same for all timezones? ›The UNIX timestamp is the number of seconds (or milliseconds) elapsed since an absolute point in time, midnight of Jan 1 1970 in UTC time. (UTC is Greenwich Mean Time without Daylight Savings time adjustments.) Regardless of your time zone, the UNIX timestamp represents a moment that is the same everywhere.
Are timestamps always UTC? ›Technically, no. Even though epoch time is the means elapsed seconds since 1/1/70 00:00:00 the real "GMT" (UTC) is not. UTC time needed to be changed a few times to take in to account the slowing speed of the rotating earth.
Is UTC and cat the same? ›Central Africa Time (CAT) is 2 hours ahead of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). This time zone is in use during standard time in: Africa.
Does DateTime default to UTC? ›If Server sends Date in UTC format it is automatically default to local time. That is DateTime.
Is UTC same as UCT? ›The official abbreviation for Coordinated Universal Time is UTC. It came about as a compromise between English and French speakers. Coordinated Universal Time in English would normally be abbreviated CUT. Temps Universel Coordonné in French would normally be abbreviated TUC.
How do you handle a 7 hour time difference? ›See the light: The most important factor in resetting your body clock is light. If you can, get 15 to 30 minutes of direct sunlight as soon as you wake up. Go for a walk, eat breakfast outside, or just sit in the sun and read. Keeping a regular bedtime and wake time with morning light exposure will help a great deal.
Is new date () getTime () UTC? ›
Use the getTime() method to get a UTC timestamp, e.g. new Date(). getTime() . The method returns the number of milliseconds since the Unix Epoch and always uses UTC for time representation. Calling the method from any time zone returns the same UTC timestamp.
What is UTC +5.30 time? ›UTC+05:30 is an identifier for a time offset from UTC of +05:30. This time is used in India and Sri Lanka, and was formerly used in Nepal. It is five and a half hours ahead of Coordinated Universal Time. Around 1.4 billion people live inside this time zone, making it the second most populous after UTC+08:00.
What is the easiest way to calculate time zones? ›This is pretty easy to work out with simple mathematics. There are 24 hours in a day, and 360 degrees of longitude encompassing the globe – dividing 360 by 24 gives you the 15 degrees of longitude that equates to a one-hour difference in each time zone.
How do you calculate time zone coordinates? ›They are based on longitude and defined by Earth's rotation, which completes a full circle (360 degrees) each day (24 hours). Each hour then, Earth rotates through 360/24 = 15° of longitude: the width of one time zone.
Is UTC a time zone or format? ›The time can be displayed using both the 24-hour format (0 - 24) or the 12-hour format (1 - 12 am/pm). UTC is not a time zone, but a time standard that is the basis for civil time and time zones worldwide.
Should I store UTC or local time? ›Generally, it is the best practice to store time in UTC and as mentioned in here and here. Suppose there is a re-occurring event let's say end time which is always at the same local time let's say 17:00 regardless of whether there is Daylight saving is on or off for that time zone.
How do you convert timezone offset? ›To convert UTC to a different time zone, we can use the NOW() function to subtract/add the offset to UTC and divide by 24. Returns the date and time in offset time zone.
Is datetime stored without timezone? ›DATETIME is a date/time that does not store timezone. TIMESTAMP is a date/time that does store timezone.
Is date now () affected by timezone? ›The now() method returns the milliseconds elapsed since 1 January 1970 00:00:00 UTC up until now as a Number. My understanding is that this timestamp is independent of any timezone offset, in other words it points to time at Zero timezone offset.
Is Datetimeoffset always UTC? ›datetimeoffset stores Local time of the client and ALSO offset to the UTC time. all clients know UTC time of all data and also a local time in the place where the information originated.
Is new date () UTC or local? ›
getTime() returns the number of milliseconds since 1970-01-01. If you create a new Date using this number, ex: new Date(Date. getTime()); it will be UTC, however when you display it (ex: through the chrome dev tools console) it will appear to be your local timezone.
How do I extract time from a date? ›Extract time only from datetime with formula
Select a blank cell, and type this formula =TIME(HOUR(A1),MINUTE(A1), SECOND(A1)) (A1 is the first cell of the list you want to extract time from), press Enter button and drag the fill handle to fill range.
My ultimate recommendation is ISO 8601 (2004) in UTC .
it's always a constant length.
Where and When is Z Observed? Zulu Time Zone is often used in aviation and the military as another name for UTC +0. Zulu Time Zone is also commonly used at sea between longitudes 7.5° West and 7.5° East. The letter Z may be used as a suffix to denote a time being in the Zulu Time Zone, such as 08:00Z or 0800Z.
How do you read a UTC timestamp? ›To represent a time behind UTC the offset is negative. For example, the time in New York during standard (not daylight saving) hours is UTC−05:00 and the zone designator would then be "−05:00", "−0500", or simply "−05".
What is tz format? ›The tz database is published as a set of text files which list the rules and zone transitions in a human-readable format. For use, these text files are compiled into a set of platform-independent binary files—one per time zone.
Are timestamps timezone aware? ›UNIX timestamps have no timezone, they always express the number of seconds elapsed since Jan. 1st 1970 00:00 UTC. That number is the same globally, it doesn't change with your timezone.
How do you display timezone in date format? ›- Java Program to display Current Time in another Time Zone.
- SimpleDateFormat(“Z”) in Java.
- Display AM/PM time marker with SimpleDateFormat(“a”) in Java.
- SimpleDateFormat(“HH:mm:ss Z”) in Java.
- Get the default Time Zone in Java.
- Display hour with SimpleDateFormat(“H”) in Java.
Convert and format UTC dates
To remove the T and Z characters from an ISO date in JavaScript, we first need to have the date in ISO format. If you don't have it already, you can convert it to ISO using the toISOString function on a Date object. This will get rid of both T and Z, resulting in "2022-06-22 07:54:52.657".
A UTC offset is the difference in hours and minutes between a particular time zone and UTC, the time at zero degrees longitude. For example, New York is UTC-05:00, which means it is five hours behind London, which is UTC±00:00.
How to remove Z from date in C#? ›
- %dw 2.0.
- output application/json.
- fun format(d: DateTime) = d as DateTime {format: "yyyy-MM-dd'T'HH:mm:ss. SSS"}
- ---
- {
- CreatedDateTime: format("2022-03-14T13:23:00.120Z")
- }
The Javascript date can be converted to UTC by using functions present in Javascript Date object. The toUTCString() method is used to convert a Date object into a string, according to universal time. The toGMTString() returns a string which represents the Date based on the GMT (UT) time zone.
Is DateTime stored without timezone? ›DATETIME is a date/time that does not store timezone. TIMESTAMP is a date/time that does store timezone.
How do I make DateTime timezone aware? ›Timezone aware object using datetime
now(). time() function of datetime module. Then we will replace the value of the timezone in the tzinfo class of the object using the replace() function. After that convert the date value into ISO 8601 format using the isoformat() method.
Yes, Date. now() will give you the same UTC timestamp independent of your current timezone. Such a timestamp, rather a point in time, does not depend on timezones.
Is GMT +2 same as UTC? ›Current time in UTC/GMT+2 time zone is 11:46:36. UTC+02 time is 2 hours ahead from the UTC time (Universal Time).
How do I convert a date to a specific format? ›DateFormat dateFormat = new SimpleDateFormat("yyyy-mm-dd hh:mm:ss"); String strDate = dateFormat. format(date);
Does new date return UTC or local time? ›The Date object internally stores only a number of milliseconds since 1970-01-01T00:00:00Z (without consideration of leap seconds). In other words, Date objects are always representing the UTC time.
Does new date () return local time? ›"The expression new Date() returns the current time in internal format, as an object containing the number of milliseconds elapsed since the start of 1970 in UTC.
Is UTC the first time zone? ›Coordinated Universal Time or UTC is the primary time standard by which the world regulates clocks and time.