Convert JSON dates without timezone

Question

I have a webservice that returns for example a DateTime object: DepartureDate. I use ajax to fetch this and in my view I convert the JSON date string to a javascript date object with this function:

function convertToDate(jsonDate) {
    return eval("new " + jsonDate.substring(1, jsonDate.length - 1));
}

The problem is that new Date() takes the local time on the clients computer in consideration, so clients in different countries get different dates. I want to get the exact date that was returned from the webservice. Is there any easy way to accomplish this?

what the value of the variable "jsonDate"

andres descalzo
– andres descalzo

2010-09-23 17:54:19 +00:00
Commented Sep 23, 2010 at 17:54 — andres descalzo
– andres descalzo, Commented Sep 23, 2010 at 17:54
could be for example "/Date(1285321800000)/"

knepe
– knepe

2010-09-23 18:01:37 +00:00
Commented Sep 23, 2010 at 18:01 — knepe
– knepe, Commented Sep 23, 2010 at 18:01

bobince · Accepted Answer · 2010-09-23 18:22:40Z

6

The problem is that new Date() takes the local time on the clients computer in consideration

Nope. Creating a new Date using the timestamp constructor takes a UTC time stamp.

For example on my machine in UTC+1:

new Date(0)   // Thu Jan 01 1970 01:00:00 GMT+0100 (CET)

OK, the default toString displays this date as 01:00:00 which looks wrong, but that's actually the correct time. 01:00:00 in UTC+1 is 00:00:00 in UTC, which is the moment described by timestamp 0.

If you want to display the dates you've creating from a timestamp in UTC, use date.toUTCString() or fetch and format the consistuent parts of the date using getUTCFullYear(), getUTCMonth() etc.

Please, though, no eval.

new Date(parseInt(jsonDate.slice(6, -1), 10))

answered Sep 23, 2010 at 18:22

bobince

538k111 gold badges675 silver badges846 bronze badges

Sign up to request clarification or add additional context in comments.

2 Comments

knepe Over a year ago

Thank you for your great answer bobince. I'm not good at dates and stuff, so I might not understand everything here, but I did what you suggested, and it's still the same result. If I change my timezone on my machine, the time changes (I want them to stay the same no matter what timezone your in, and they should follow AST timezone.)

bobince Over a year ago

The time displayed by toString() changes to reflect your time zone, but that does not mean the date is any different. new Date(1285321800000).getUTCHours() is always 9 regardless of your timezone. Stick with the getUTC... and setUTC... functions and the date will behave as you expect.

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

Convert JSON dates without timezone

1 Answer 1

2 Comments

Linked

Hot Network Questions

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

1 Answer 1

2 Comments

Linked

Related