Timezones

[Mark]

We are all, or at least most of us, are writing web applications that
can be accessed from any place on the planet. And yet Microsoft has
yet to write a datetime object that can deal with anything other than
local and UTC time. I have users in Toronto. I have users in Bangor.
Why can't I convert their dates and times from one place to another?

I can convert my local time to the Japanese calendar. I can convert it
to the Gregorian calendar. Why can't I convert Toronto time to Bangor
time? I have been reviewing new articles from as far back as 2002,
each answered with the same pitiful mumbling responses, each relying on
wacky javascript workarounds. You guys have all of the components for
a solution built into the OS. All we need is an interface. Where is
it?

Mark

 

[Nathan Sokalski]

I agree with you 100%, I asked pretty much the same question about a month
ago. The reason I was given (I was told the JavaScript workarounds as well,
which I didn't like) was that sometimes the machines that supply the
localtimezones or other necessary information for the conversion are not
accurate. Whether or not this is true, there are improvements that I think
they could give. Here are some that I would like to see:

1. A Date method that allows you to enter 2 timezones (maybe the local and
remote) using an enumeration to more easily do the conversion.
2. Methods that do what you are asking for. Even if the servers aren't
guaranteed to have the correct times on them, it would still be nice to have
the methods.
3. Make a WebControl that has a property specifying what timezone to convert
the viewer's localtime to. The Control would generate the JavaScript to do
this so we didn't have to deal with it.

I will admit that I haven't spent much time concerning myself with time
accuracy (probably because none of the pages my boss has asked for needed
it), but I do know enough that with everything the web does, I think
Microsoft should be willing to sacrifice a little effort to make local and
remote time conversions more easily available to us.

 

[Mark]

The sad thing is that nobody from Microsoft actually reads these
groups. They'll only look if you pay them too.

Mark

 

[Juan T. Llibre]

That is not true.

Every day you can see responses from Microsoft-paid
personnel answering questions here...without charge to the askers.