time_t

[Derek Atkins]

Hi,

Quoting Graham Leggett <minfrin at sharp.fm>:

> Derek Atkins wrote:
>
>>> Different database engines have different column types for storing
>>> dates/times, so I'm using a 'YYYYMMDDHHMMSS' char string.
>>
>> ... in what timezone?    Do you always convert to UTC?
>
> The current XML file doesn't convert to UTC, and as a result my 
> computer is stuck in the UTC+02 timezone, when I actually live in UTC 
> (within spitting distance of Greenwich).

No, the XML doesn't convert the UTC, but the current XML file DOES store the
timezone information so the values DO get converted when they are read in.

> If I don't do this, transactions report themselves as being one day 
> early, so transactions on the first of the month suddenly appear on 
> the last day of last month, which sends my VAT returns into a spin.

That's because transactions are set at midnight instead of, say,
noon.

> I think this is being caused by dates that are actually dates and not 
> times, being stores as times.

You think incorrectly.

There are LOTS of reasons to store times in transactions.  There ARE
timestamps in the real world.  And there are reasons that some people
want to actually put time stamps into transactions, too (see bug #89439).

I'm not saying that there isn't a bug here, just that your reasoning
is flawed.

> Regards,
> Graham

-derek
-- 
       Derek Atkins, SB '93 MIT EE, SM '95 MIT Media Laboratory
       Member, MIT Student Information Processing Board  (SIPB)
       URL: http://web.mit.edu/warlord/    PP-ASEL-IA     N1NWH
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