Simplest way to display time with correct daylight savings?

[lordy]

I can create a SimpleDateFormatter with the correct timeZone.
If but when I use format(Date D) it always displays the date
using daylight savings (which are currently in force in the UK),
(eg new Date(0) has 'HH' set to '01' when formatted.

See example below:

Do I need to do test each dates inDaylightTime() against the current system time's
inDaylightTime() to work
out how to display the time using daylight savings applicable at
that time (rather than the current system time)



ie doesnt the SimpleDateFormat.format() method have an option to do this?



Example:


import java.util.Date;
import java.text.SimpleDateFormat;

public class D {

public static void main(String[] args) {

SimpleDateFormat sdf = new SimpleDateFormat("yyy-MM-dd HH:mm");
Date dt = new Date();

//Should be London time - daylight savings
System.out.println(sdf.getTimeZone());

dt.setTime(0);
System.out.println(sdf.format(dt));
}
}

Output:
sun.util.calendar.ZoneInfo[id="GB",offset=0,dstSavings=3600000,
useDaylight=true,transitions=242,lastRule=java.util.SimpleTimeZone
[id=GB,offset=0,dstSavings=3600000,useDaylight=true,startYear=0,
startMode=2,startMonth=2,startDay=-1,startDayOfWeek=1,startTime=3600000,
startTimeMode=2,endMode=2,endMonth=9,endDay=-1,endDayOfWeek=1,
endTime=3600000,endTimeMode=2]]
70-01-01 01:00 <<< Expected 70-01-01 00:00

Lordy

 

[rhino_redux]

I can create a SimpleDateFormatter with the correct timeZone.
If but when I use format(Date D) it always displays the date
using daylight savings (which are currently in force in the UK),
(eg new Date(0) has 'HH' set to '01' when formatted.

[snip]

[snip]

Your question seems to contradict your subject line: the subject line
asks
how to display the time with daylight savings time but the body of your
post
seems to be complaining that the daylight savings time is being shown.
I'm
really not clear on what you are after.

Perhaps this code fragment will help:


================================================================TimeZone
londonZone = TimeZone.getTimeZone("Europe/London");

DateFormat dateFormatLondon
=DateFormat.getDateTimeInstance(DateFormat.LONG, DateFormat.LONG,
Locale.UK);

dateFormatLondon.setTimeZone(londonZone);

Calendar calendarLondon = Calendar.getInstance(londonZone);

System.out.println("London Time (formatted): "
+dateFormatLondon.format(calendarLondon.getTime()));
================================================================

Explanation:

The first line creates a TimeZone instance that reflects London
England. The literal string "Europe/London" is one of hundreds of
existing literals thatcould be used in the argument of getTimeZone()
but please note that you can't put just _anything_ in that argument;
I'm pretty sure "Europe/Swansea"would _not_ work as desired. To get a
list of all of the valid literals,execute this loop:

for (String id : TimeZone.getAvailableIDs()) {
System.out.println(id);
}

Line 2 basically controls the appearance of the date as it is
displayed. The first argument controls the way the date (year, month,
and day) appears. The second argument controls the way the time (hour,
minute, second) appears.The third argument essentially controls the
language used in displaying the date and which separators are used
between different parts of the date. Naturally, you have a variety of
options for each of the three parameters so it's perfectly okay to set
them to DateFormat.LONG, DateFormat.SHORT, Locale.US, respectively, if
that's what you prefer.

Line 3 tells the formatter which TimeZone to use.

Line 4 gets you an instance of a Calendar using the specified TimeZone.

Line 5 displays the date/time, formatted with the formatter created in
Line 2.

Therefore, if you want to show the time _without_ daylight savings
time, you can accomplish it by using the UTC TimeZone ID like this:

===============================================================
TimeZone utcZone = TimeZone.getTimeZone("UTC");

DateFormat dateFormatUtc =
DateFormat.getDateTimeInstance(DateFormat.LONG,DateFormat.LONG,
Locale.UK);

dateFormatUtc.setTimeZone(utcZone);

Calendar calendarUtc = Calendar.getInstance(utcZone);

System.out.println("UTC Time (formatted): "
+dateFormatUtc.format(calendarUtc.getTime()));
================================================================

If you execute both fragments of code in the order that I've given
them, you get this for output:

London Time (formatted): 14 July 2006 14:48:22 BST
UTC Time (formatted): 14 July 2006 13:48:31 UTC

As you can see, the London time takes daylight savings time into
account and is an hour later while the UTC time ignores daylight
savings time and is an hour later.


I hope this helps you, whatever it is you are trying to do.

 

[lordy]

I can create a SimpleDateFormatter with the correct timeZone.
If but when I use format(Date D) it always displays the date
using daylight savings (which are currently in force in the UK),
(eg new Date(0) has 'HH' set to '01' when formatted.

[snip]

[snip]

Your question seems to contradict your subject line: the subject line
asks
how to display the time with daylight savings time

My subject says how to display with "Correct" daylight savings
ie if a date is not in Daylight Savings then IMO the DateFormatter using local time
should not apply DST offset. If the date is in daylight savings then the
DateFormatter should apply DST offset.

Att present it applies DST offset if the TineZone is inDaylight Savings
,
ignoring whether or not the date to be displayed is in the DST period.

Hence 0 = 1/1/1970 0:0 is in winter here and should not have DST
applied. But a Simple DateFormatter created using LocalTime will display
0 as 1/1/1970 1:00 which is the incorrect (for most purposes).

ie why dies the DateFormatter check the TimeZone.inDaylightSavings(Date
d) value and then decide if to display using daylight savings or not?

Hope thats clearer..

I'll look at your code now

It could be a difference between "GB" and "London" TimeZones ???

Lordy

 

[lordy]

I can create a SimpleDateFormatter with the correct timeZone.
If but when I use format(Date D) it always displays the date
using daylight savings (which are currently in force in the UK),
(eg new Date(0) has 'HH' set to '01' when formatted.

[snip]

[snip]

Your question seems to contradict your subject line: the subject line
asks
how to display the time with daylight savings time but the body of your
post
seems to be complaining that the daylight savings time is being shown.
I'm
really not clear on what you are after.

Sorted. My issue was that it was displaying Date(0) as 1/1/1970 01:00
But in the UK the summer time act was passed in 1972 ! Dates after 1972
are as I expected.

Eg run this little program and look at the hours column:
============================
import java.util.Date;
import java.util.TimeZone;
import java.text.SimpleDateFormat;

public class D {

public static void main(String[] args) {

SimpleDateFormat sdf = new SimpleDateFormat("yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm zzz");
sdf.setTimeZone(TimeZone.getTimeZone("GB"));

long secondsInYear = 365*24*60*60*1000L ; //Ignore leap years etc.
long now = System.currentTimeMillis();

Date dt = new Date();

for(long l = 0 ; l < now ; l += secondsInYear ) {
dt.setTime(l);
System.out.println(l + " = " + sdf.format(dt));
}
}
}
=============================


Still odd that 0L is displayed as 1:00 GMT but there is probably some
history behind it.

Lordy