-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 On 09/10/07 10:55, Scott Marlowe wrote: > On 9/10/07, novnov <novnovice@xxxxxxxxx> wrote: >> Your explanation of now() and localtime() is good...but localtime() to >> postgres acting as a web app db, wouldn't it just return the local time as >> far as the server is concerned? > > No, it would return it as the local time of the POSTGRESQL client. > > For instance, suppose that someone in NY, connects to a web app, which > asks him what TZ he's in and he picks EST5EDT. The web app sets > timezone='EST5EDT' and inserts a time of '2007-07-11 12:30:00'. > > The database now stores that as '2007-07-11 16:30:00+00' > > No matter WHERE the postgresql server is, that's what it has in it. > > Now, I connect from Chicago, and your web app ascertains my timezone > as CST6CDT. When I ask for the same timestamp, I get '2007-07-11 > 11:30:00-05'. > > Now, if you don't set a timezone, then the database will use it's own. > If your postgresql server is in california, then it might have a > timezone of PST8PDT set. If your web app didn't tell it otherwise, > then the time would be '2007-07-11 09:30:00-07'. > > Note that there are IP lookup tools you can use to determine, or at > least make a wild guess at, someone's timezone. But you still need to > let them pick one if you get it wrong. Then you can store that > timezone in a user profile and set it everytime the user uses your web > app. In both Windows *and* Unix "you" set your TZ when you install the system. There are system functions to inquire how you've set it. Browsers already report back a mountain of client data to the web server. I'd be stunned if FF, IE, Opera, Konq, etc don't already expose TZ, too. - -- Ron Johnson, Jr. Jefferson LA USA Give a man a fish, and he eats for a day. Hit him with a fish, and he goes away for good! -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.6 (GNU/Linux) iD8DBQFG5W04S9HxQb37XmcRAhsrAKCr3WQZi0oyWSJsMxortjoExeaS1QCg5HbS G+fd0X7UvX9406A+Td2GYpw= =wk17 -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- ---------------------------(end of broadcast)--------------------------- TIP 4: Have you searched our list archives? http://archives.postgresql.org/