How to handle calendar TimeZones using Java?

Question

I have a Timestamp value that comes from my application. The user can be in any given local TimeZone. Since this date is used for a WebService that assumes the time given is always in GMT, I have a need to convert the user's parameter from say (EST) to (GMT). Here's the kicker: The user is oblivious to his TZ. He enters the creation date that he wants to send to the WS, so what I need is: User enters: 5/1/2008 6:12 PM (EST) The parameter to the WS needs to be: 5/1/2008 6:12 PM (GMT) I know TimeStamps are always supposed to be in GMT by default, but when sending the parameter, even though I created my Calendar from the TS (which is supposed to be in GMT), the hours are always off unless the user is in GMT. What am I missing? ``` Timestamp issuedDate = (Timestamp) getACPValue(inputs_, "issuedDate"); Calendar issueDate = convertTimestampToJavaCalendar(issuedDate); ... private static java.util.Calendar convertTimestampToJavaCalendar(Timestamp ts_) { java.util.Calendar cal = java.util.Cale…

Accepted Answer

Thank you all for responding. After a further investigation I got to the right answer. As mentioned by Skip Head, the TimeStamped I was getting from my application was being adjusted to the user's TimeZone. So if the User entered 6:12 PM (EST) I would get 2:12 PM (GMT). What I needed was a way to undo the conversion so that the time entered by the user is the time I sent to the WebServer request. Here's how I accomplished this:

```
// Get TimeZone of user
TimeZone currentTimeZone = sc_.getTimeZone();
Calendar currentDt = new GregorianCalendar(currentTimeZone, EN_US_LOCALE);
// Get the Offset from GMT taking DST into account
int gmtOffset = currentTimeZone.getOffset(
    currentDt.get(Calendar.ERA), 
    currentDt.get(Calendar.YEAR), 
    currentDt.get(Calendar.MONTH), 
    currentDt.get(Calendar.DAY_OF_MONTH), 
    currentDt.get(Calendar.DAY_OF_WEEK), 
    currentDt.get(Calendar.MILLISECOND));
// convert to hours
gmtOffset = gmtOffset / (60*60*1000);
System.out.println("Current User's TimeZone: " + currentTimeZone.getID());
System.out.println("Current Offset from GMT (in hrs):" + gmtOffset);
// Get TS from User Input
Timestamp issuedDate = (Timestamp) getACPValue(inputs_, "issuedDate");
System.out.println("TS from ACP: " + issuedDate);
// Set TS into Calendar
Calendar issueDate = convertTimestampToJavaCalendar(issuedDate);
// Adjust for GMT (note the offset negation)
issueDate.add(Calendar.HOUR_OF_DAY, -gmtOffset);
System.out.println("Calendar Date converted from TS using GMT and US_EN Locale: "
    + DateFormat.getDateTimeInstance(DateFormat.SHORT, DateFormat.SHORT)
    .format(issueDate.getTime()));
```

The code's output is: (User entered 5/1/2008 6:12PM (EST)

Current User's TimeZone: EST Current Offset from GMT (in hrs):-4 (Normally -5, except is DST adjusted) TS from ACP: 2008-05-01 14:12:00.0 Calendar Date converted from TS using GMT and US_EN Locale: 5/1/08 6:12 PM (GMT)

How to handle calendar TimeZones using Java?

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