Question

When I execute this code in plain java and in android, I get different results:

System.out.println(new Date(1311940549187l).toString());

• In plain java, I get this output: Fri Jul 29 13:55:49 CEST 2011

• In android, I get this output: Fri Jul 29 11:55:49 GMT+00:00 2011

I understand it has something to do with the time zone. But I really need to get the same output. How can I generate a Date object based on a Long value, and get the same date in both environments ?

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Edit: I already use SimpleDateFormat and the two datetimes have 2 hours offset. Please tell me how to get rid of the offset.

this is how I use the SimpleDateFormat: new SimpleDateFormat("MM-dd-yyyy HH:mm")

Answer 1

The date is the same in both environment, but toString() gives a different result because the two environments are configured with a different timezone.

To format a date for a specific timezone, use a SimpleDateFormat and set the timezone to a specific value (GMT for instance).

UPDATE:

TimeZone gmt = TimeZone.getTimeZone("GMT");
SimpleDateFormat format = new SimpleDateFormat("...");
format.setCalendar(Calendar.getInstance(gmt));