Convert UTC to Time Zone (US/Eastern) from GlideRecord query output

[keith_rokoske]

I'm relatively new to ServiceNow development and have encountered an issue that seems very simple but has thwarted me, thus far.   I've referenced:

Re: How to convert GMT date to ESTand other entries, but haven't been able to figure it out yet.

In a workflow script, there's a GlideRecord query (called, "sysapproval") that pulls some change request variables that are sent to an OnBase approval engine in an XML payload.   The fields, "current.sysapproval.start_date" and "current.sysapproval.end_date" are currently output in UTC.   Times need to be converted to system time (US/Eastern) or via the java time zone utilities: ("America/New_York").   Because these times aren't actually displayed in ServiceNow, they don't get automatically converted to the system time zone (US/Eastern).

I've tried to do this time zone conversion within the payload function via the GlideDateTime setTZ(tz) method: GlideDateTime - ServiceNow Wiki

var tz = Packages.java.util.TimeZone.getTimeZone("America/New_York");

var ps_dt = new GlideDateTime(current.sysapproval.start_date);

var plannedStartDt = ps_dt.setTZ(tz);

var pe_dt = new GlideDateTime(current.sysapproval.end_date);

var plannedEndDt = pe_dt.setTZ(tz);

However, when I do this, the resulting values in the XML get set to "undefined" and the approval engine chokes on the payload:

<Property><Name>Planned Start</Name><Value>undefined</Value></Property>

<Property><Name>Planned End</Name><Value>undefined</Value></Property>

I've tried to do this just about every alternative way I can think of but haven't had any success.   What am I missing?

Thanks,

Keith

[PeterWiles]

You need to set the timezone before you set the date.

So

var tz = Packages.java.util.TimeZone.getTimeZone("America/New_York");

var time = new GlideDateTime();

time.setTZ(tz);

time.setValue(current.sysapproval.end_date);  

[keith_rokoske]

Hi Peter,

Thanks for your quick and helpful response.   I tried your suggestion like this:

//set time zone

var tz = Packages.java.util.TimeZone.getTimeZone("America/New_York");

//set start date

var ps_dt = new GlideDateTime();

ps_dt.setTZ(tz);

ps_dt.setValue(current.sysapproval.start_date);

//set end date

var pe_dt = new GlideDateTime();

pe_dt.setTZ(tz);

pe_dt.setValue(current.sysapproval.end_date);

The payload didn't cause the approval engine to crash, but the times were still in UTC rather than EST.

<Property><Name>Planned Start</Name><Value>2015-02-05 17:00:00</Value></Property>

<Property><Name>Planned End</Name><Value>2015-02-05 18:00:00</Value></Property>

The start_date should be converted from 17:00 to 12:00 and end date should be converted from 18:00 to 13:00.

So, clearly there's a step that I'm still missing.   Any other ideas?

Thanks,
Keith

[PeterWiles]

Right, understand it now.

When working with date/times, you should work in UTC. This will ensure all calculations are correct.

When displaying the time, this is when you would convert it to the users time zone. To get this to work, we need to use "getDisplayValue()";   So it should be something like:

var ps_dt = new GlideDateTime();

gs.print(ps_dt); //The current time

//set time zone

var tz = Packages.java.util.TimeZone.getTimeZone("America/New_York");

//Set the timezone

ps_dt.setTZ(tz);

//Display timezone value

gs.print(ps_dt.getDisplayValue());

[keith_rokoske]

Hi Peter,

Thanks so much for replying to my post again.   I tried your suggestion, but it keeps spitting back the date/time in UTC.

In my testing, I learned that if I use gs.print(); or gs.print() when building the XML payload, it causes an error.  

Here's what I've tried:

//create new glide datetime objects with dates from the gliderecord query

var ps_dt = new GlideDateTime(current.sysapproval.start_date);

var pe_dt = new GlideDateTime(current.sysapproval.end_date);

//define time zone

var tz = Packages.java.util.TimeZone.getTimeZone("America/New_York");

//set time zone in variables

ps_dt.setTZ(tz);

pe_dt.setTZ(tz);

Then, in the XML I output the dates like this, but it still outputs UTC:

payload += '<Property><Name>Planned Start</Name><Value>' + ps_dt.getDisplayValue() + '</Value></Property>\n';

payload += '<Property><Name>Planned End</Name><Value>' + pe_dt.getDisplayValue() + '</Value></Property>\n';

I've also tried using .getValue(), which also outputs UTC:

payload += '<Property><Name>Planned Start</Name><Value>' + ps_dt.getValue() + '</Value></Property>\n';

payload += '<Property><Name>Planned End</Name><Value>' + pe_dt.getValue() + '</Value></Property>\n';

Also, I find it less than helpful that the setTZ() documentation, GlideDateTime - ServiceNow Wiki, shows you how *set* the time zone but it doesn't provide information on how to *output* it!

Thanks,
Keith