I am trying to retrieve some time values, so I can generate a warning message 5 days after a specific date. My current script to retrieve time:
var then = "{!web02_materialstime}";
var toString = "Now #1: " + Date("{!date_field}") + "\r\n";
toString += "Now #2: " + rbv_api.getCurrentDate() + "\r\n";
toString += "Now #3: " + new Date() + "\r\n";
toString += "Then: " + then + "\r\n";
return toString;
Now #1: Fri Sep 26 2014 09:38:25 GMT-0500 (CDT) Now #2: Fri Sep 26 2014 14:38:25 (GMT) Now #3: Fri Sep 26 2014 09:38:25 GMT-0500 (CDT) Then: Fri Sep 26 2014 19:30:34 (GMT)
Why does the "Then" time field return a date into the future? It's currently setup to " Use current date plus 0 days as default value for newly created records". "Now #2" and "Then" are both GMT, why the difference?
Hi matman,
Is the date field "web02_materialstime" hidden or shown in the New and Edit pages and users are free to choose a date?
Thanks,
Orchid
I'm currently running this as a test, so the "web02_materialstime" field is a field that is automatically filled with the time using:
rbv_api.setFieldValue("website3", {!id}, "web02_materialstime", new Date(rbv_api.getCurrentDate()).getTime());
I found out what the problem was. It lies in the storing of a UNIX timestamp ( www.unixtimestamp.com/index.php ) in a date/time field. The timestamp gets converted to match the user's timezone settings. For me that means that when I request a timestamp it lies 7 hours into the future.
I fixed it by just storing "new Date()" instead of "new Date().getTime()". I think it would be a good idea to add some extra information about time handling to the Rollbase user guide? Other than "Using Dates in Formulas" I could find little about it.
Hi matman,
Your suggestions are very much appreciated, feel free to file any ideas in our ideas page below that would help us improve our product including our documentation. https://community.progress.com/community_groups/products_enhancements/i/rollbase/default.aspx
Thank you.
Regards,
Orchid
I encountered a few other problems. When I try storing a rbv_api.getCurrentDate() in a Date/Time field, it returns me "Error: Not a date". When I use Date(rbv_api.getCurrentDate()) it also returns me an error. But when I use new Date(), it is stored succesfully but only as 30/09/2014 6:10 instead of 30/09/2014 14:10 (time difference).
In account settings my timezone is set to GMT+1 (CEST).
Is there any way I could retrieve that stored date, but in the format corresponding to my timezone?
Hi matman,
new Date(rbv_api.getCurrentDate()); -- > Will return current date/time according to what timezone in your Current Rollbase user.
new Date(); -- > Will return current date/time according to your machine's date/time
Hope this may help.
Regards,
Orchid
Works! Thanks for the help!
I ran into another problem regarding time. I now store the time using new Date(rbv_api.getCurrentDate()). I also created a view with filter: "TODAY - 5", but there seems to be a 10 hour difference between that stored Date/Time and TODAY. My "time since contact" formula field returns "5 day(s), 10 hour(s) and 00 minute(s) ago." when I finally see the record in the field. Any way to tackle this problem?
Is the field in TODAY filter does display the correct time and TODAY - 5 displays with 10 hrs? Is it what you mean?
Regards,
Orchid
What I mean is that in my case, TODAY - 5 will never be NOW - 5 days. TODAY only returns the current formatted date (03/10/2014 in my timezone). I'm trying to make NOW - 5 days happen, but the View filter system doesn't allow JavaScript in it's formulas and expressions.
If you want to filter records within 5 days you can use "All (AND)" in the view filter. Field to be filter can be Date/time field and if you are using expression field make sure it does return a Date value.
e.g. View Filters:
1st Row: Created At -------- > less or equal -----------> TODAY
2nd Row: Created At --------> greater or equal -------> TODAY - 5