Flow Designer script action date handling issue

[Erik Gunther2]

I don't understand how Flow Designer processes dates and times. I created a simple Script Action to test inputs and outputs. The first screenshot shows the script action. It's a very simple pass through of the date/time value as a date/time and as a string. The second screenshot shows that whatever date/time value you pass in as the date_time parameter, you get a date/time value that is shifted by several hours (or more depending on the various methods I've tried).

And finally, I ran some background scripts to see if I had a time zone discrepancy, which I don't think I do.

Please explain why the date shifts in the Script Action. And more importantly, what approach do I use so that I can copy the value without changing the time?

Thanks.

[Ankur Bawiskar]

Hi Erik,

new GlideDateTime() would always give you GMT time

see in background script below

gs.info(new GlideDateTime()); // this will give GMT time

gs.info(new GlideDateTime().getDisplayValue()); // this will give your local time

Mark Correct if this solves your issue and also mark Helpful if you find my response worthy based on the impact.
Thanks
Ankur

[Ankur Bawiskar]

Hi Erik,

Any update on this?
Can you mark my answer as correct, helpful if you were able to achieve the requirement & close the thread. Thanks in advance.

Regards
Ankur

[Erik Gunther2]

I marked your response as helpful because it clarified for me that the GlideDateTime default value is in GMT format. But I think there's a bug in Flow Designer with dates. I submitted a HI ticket and will update here when I learn more. I see 2 issues in flow designer:

• The Date Time value passed into the Script Action is 1 hour less than GMT
• getDisplayValue does not return the local time but the same 1 hour less time

I implemented a workaround but want to find out if there's a bug in Flow or if there's still something I don't understand about how this process is supposed to work.

[Ankur Bawiskar]

Sure Erik

Do let us know the update from ServiceNow