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Asked: 2026-05-10T18:14:54+00:00

I have a Timestamp value that comes from my application. The user can be

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I have a Timestamp value that comes from my application. The user can be in any given local TimeZone.

Since this date is used for a WebService that assumes the time given is always in GMT, I have a need to convert the user’s parameter from say (EST) to (GMT). Here’s the kicker: The user is oblivious to his TZ. He enters the creation date that he wants to send to the WS, so what I need is:

User enters: 5/1/2008 6:12 PM (EST)
The parameter to the WS needs to be: 5/1/2008 6:12 PM (GMT)

I know TimeStamps are always supposed to be in GMT by default, but when sending the parameter, even though I created my Calendar from the TS (which is supposed to be in GMT), the hours are always off unless the user is in GMT. What am I missing?

Timestamp issuedDate = (Timestamp) getACPValue(inputs_, 'issuedDate'); Calendar issueDate = convertTimestampToJavaCalendar(issuedDate); ... private static java.util.Calendar convertTimestampToJavaCalendar(Timestamp ts_) {   java.util.Calendar cal = java.util.Calendar.getInstance(       GMT_TIMEZONE, EN_US_LOCALE);   cal.setTimeInMillis(ts_.getTime());   return cal; }

With the previous Code, this is what I get as a result (Short Format for easy reading):

[May 1, 2008 11:12 PM]

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  1. Thank you all for responding. After a further investigation I got to the right answer. As mentioned by Skip Head, the TimeStamped I was getting from my application was being adjusted to the user’s TimeZone. So if the User entered 6:12 PM (EST) I would get 2:12 PM (GMT). What I needed was a way to undo the conversion so that the time entered by the user is the time I sent to the WebServer request. Here’s how I accomplished this:

    // Get TimeZone of user TimeZone currentTimeZone = sc_.getTimeZone(); Calendar currentDt = new GregorianCalendar(currentTimeZone, EN_US_LOCALE); // Get the Offset from GMT taking DST into account int gmtOffset = currentTimeZone.getOffset(     currentDt.get(Calendar.ERA),      currentDt.get(Calendar.YEAR),      currentDt.get(Calendar.MONTH),      currentDt.get(Calendar.DAY_OF_MONTH),      currentDt.get(Calendar.DAY_OF_WEEK),      currentDt.get(Calendar.MILLISECOND)); // convert to hours gmtOffset = gmtOffset / (60*60*1000); System.out.println('Current User's TimeZone: ' + currentTimeZone.getID()); System.out.println('Current Offset from GMT (in hrs):' + gmtOffset); // Get TS from User Input Timestamp issuedDate = (Timestamp) getACPValue(inputs_, 'issuedDate'); System.out.println('TS from ACP: ' + issuedDate); // Set TS into Calendar Calendar issueDate = convertTimestampToJavaCalendar(issuedDate); // Adjust for GMT (note the offset negation) issueDate.add(Calendar.HOUR_OF_DAY, -gmtOffset); System.out.println('Calendar Date converted from TS using GMT and US_EN Locale: '     + DateFormat.getDateTimeInstance(DateFormat.SHORT, DateFormat.SHORT)     .format(issueDate.getTime()));

    The code’s output is: (User entered 5/1/2008 6:12PM (EST)

    Current User’s TimeZone: EST
    Current Offset from GMT (in hrs):-4 (Normally -5, except is DST adjusted)
    TS from ACP: 2008-05-01 14:12:00.0
    Calendar Date converted from TS using GMT and US_EN Locale: 5/1/08 6:12 PM (GMT)

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