Question

I need to standardise and compare date/time fields that are in differnt timezones. eg How do you find the time difference between the following two times?…

"18-05-2012 09:29:41 +0800"
"18-05-2012 09:29:21 +0900"

What’s the best way to initialise standard varaibles with the date/time?
The output needs to display the difference and normalised data in a timezone (eg +0100) that is different to the incoming values and different to the local environment.

Expected Output:

18-05-2012 02:29:41 +0100 
18-05-2012 01:29:21 +0100
Difference: 01:00:20

Answer 1

Or, use the JodaTime package

@Grab( 'joda-time:joda-time:2.1' )
import org.joda.time.*
import org.joda.time.format.*

String a = "18-05-2012 09:29:41 +0800"
String b = "18-05-2012 09:29:21 +0900"

DateTimeFormatter dtf = DateTimeFormat.forPattern( "dd-MM-yyyy HH:mm:ss Z" );

def start = dtf.parseDateTime( a )
def end = dtf.parseDateTime( b )

assert 1 == Hours.hoursBetween( end, start ).hours