Locale timeZoneInformation

Hi,

        I'm trying to use the time zone information provided by a Locale,
but if do:

Locale default timeZoneInformation "Display-it"
It fails to print the TIME_ZONE_INFORMATION.

However, if I don't display it, it works, answering a two elements
array (???), with the second element being the TIME_ZONE_INFORMATION
  instance.

However, the TIME_ZONE_INFORMATION>>bias method answer the bias
minutes related to GMT 0 (Greenwich), but it answers it with the
inverse sign. i.e. my local bias is -180 and if I evaluate #bias, it
answers 180.

And finally, the timeZoneInformation allways answers the TZI of the
system locale, and not the one defined for an specific locale
Looking at the MSDN, it seems that is OK, just that the Dolphin
implementation may lead to confusion, because the
#timeZoneInformation is implemented in Locale, when perhaps it
should be in Locale class, because it always answers the same,
whatever the locale instance receiver is.


Best regards.

--
Esteban.

Esteban,

>     I'm trying to use the time zone information provided by a Locale,
> but if do:
>
> Locale default timeZoneInformation "Display-it"
> It fails to print the TIME_ZONE_INFORMATION.

Chris Uppal raised this in a post on the 26th September 2004 entitled
"Bug in Locale timezone info".  The thread didn't have a fix but Chris
may have come up with the reason for the problem.

BTW, It still fails in D6

> However, the TIME_ZONE_INFORMATION>>bias method answer the bias minutes
> related to GMT 0 (Greenwich), but it answers it with the inverse sign.
> i.e. my local bias is -180 and if I evaluate #bias, it answers 180.

Can't really help there - mine answers 0 :-)

--
Ian

Use the Reply-To address to contact me.
Mail sent to the From address is ignored.

Esteban A. Maringolo wrote:
> Locale default timeZoneInformation "Display-it"
> It fails to print the TIME_ZONE_INFORMATION.

Yeah, apparently the somewhat non-standard usage of SYSTEMTIME by the
TIME_ZONE_INFORMATION structure for representing the StandardDate and
DaylightDate messes up its conversion to a print string. My guess is the
way that they use year=0 to signify that day is really week of the month
[sic].

> However, if I don't display it, it works, answering a two elements array
> (???), with the second element being the TIME_ZONE_INFORMATION  instance.

The reason for two element array is that the first is the
GetTimeZoneInformation return code, which tells whether the system is
currently in daylight savings time mode or not (or can't be determined).

> However, the TIME_ZONE_INFORMATION>>bias method answer the bias minutes
> related to GMT 0 (Greenwich), but it answers it with the inverse sign.
> i.e. my local bias is -180 and if I evaluate #bias, it answers 180.

The inverse sign is probably right. Though the opposite of what is
typically displayed (which is the offset of the local time from GMT).
MSDN defines TIME_ZONE_INFORMATION bias as:

        UTC = local time + bias

Hope this helped clarify a few things.

--
Bill Dargel            [hidden email]
Shoshana Technologies
100 West Joy Road, Ann Arbor, MI 48105  USA

Bill Dargel escribió:
> Esteban A. Maringolo wrote:
>> However, if I don't display it, it works, answering a two elements
>> array (???), with the second element being the TIME_ZONE_INFORMATION  
>> instance.
> The reason for two element array is that the first is the
> GetTimeZoneInformation return code, which tells whether the system is
> currently in daylight savings time mode or not (or can't be determined).

Yes, but I panic when I see an smalltalk method returning a fixed size
collection with distinct elements on each position :-)

>> However, the TIME_ZONE_INFORMATION>>bias method answer the bias
>> minutes related to GMT 0 (Greenwich), but it answers it with the
>> inverse sign. i.e. my local bias is -180 and if I evaluate #bias, it
>> answers 180.

> The inverse sign is probably right. Though the opposite of what is
> typically displayed (which is the offset of the local time from GMT).
> MSDN defines TIME_ZONE_INFORMATION bias as:
>     UTC = local time + bias
> Hope this helped clarify a few things.

Yes, MSDN says that, and now that I think... it's right. I'm 3hours
before Greenwich.

Best regards,

--
Esteban.