Question

I have Java code which queries calendar entries from a Lotus Notes Domino server (based on a start and end date range). Below is a simplified version of the code.

When querying a Domino server that formats dates the same as the local client, everything is fine, e.g. both the server and client use m/d/y format. However, if the server and the client use different formats (e.g. a server with US formatting m/d/y and a client with German formatting d/m/y), then the wrong number of Lotus Notes entries are being found.

This is because I’m converting the dates into local strings using getLocalTime() and then creating a date range using @TextToTime().

Is there a way to find out what date format the server is using?
Or is there a way to avoid the date-to-string conversion completely? I’d like to pass in the two Lotus DateTime objects and let the server decode them as needed.

import lotus.domino.*;


Session session = NotesFactory.createSession((String)null, (String)null, password);

Database db = session.getDatabase(dominoServer, mailfile, false);

// Get our start and end query dates in Lotus Notes format. We will query
// using the localized format for the dates.
lotus.domino.DateTime minStartDateLN = session.createDateTime(minStartDate);
lotus.domino.DateTime maxEndDateLN = session.createDateTime(maxEndDate);

// Query Lotus Notes to get calendar entries in our date range. 
// Here is an overview of this SELECT:
//   @IsAvailable(CalendarDateTime) is true if the LN document is a calendar entry
//   @Explode splits a string based on the delimiters ",; "
//   The operator *= is a permuted equal operator. It compares all entries on
//   the left side to all entries on the right side. If there is at least one
//   match, then true is returned. Explode is used because the CalendarDateTime
//   field can have many dates separated by ";" (e.g. for recurring meetings).
String calendarQuery = "SELECT (@IsAvailable(CalendarDateTime) & (@Explode(CalendarDateTime) *= @Explode(@TextToTime(\""
+ minStartDateLN.getLocalTime()
+ "-" + maxEndDateLN.getLocalTime() + "\"))))";

DocumentCollection queryResults = db.search(calendarQuery);

Answer 1

There is a way to find the date format on the Domino server by using the Java lotus.domino.International class (aka NotesInternational class). Here is the final working code.

import lotus.domino.*;

Session session = NotesFactory.createSession((String)null, (String)null, password);

Database db = session.getDatabase(dominoServer, mailfile, false);

String strDateFormat;
// Get the date separator used on the Domino server, e.g. / or -
String dateSep = session.getInternational().getDateSep();

// Determine if the server date format is DMY, YMD, or MDY
if (session.getInternational().isDateDMY()) {
    strDateFormat = "dd" + dateSep + "MM" + dateSep + "yyyy";                
}
else if (session.getInternational().isDateYMD()) {
    strDateFormat = "yyyy" + dateSep + "MM" + dateSep + "dd";
}
else {
    strDateFormat = "MM" + dateSep + "dd" + dateSep + "yyyy";
}

DateFormat dateFormat = new SimpleDateFormat(strDateFormat);


String calendarQuery = "SELECT (@IsAvailable(CalendarDateTime) & (@Explode(CalendarDateTime) *= @Explode(@TextToTime(\"" +
    dateFormat.format(startDate) + " - " + dateFormat.format(endDate) + "\"))))";

DocumentCollection queryResults = db.search(calendarQuery);