Re: Value of a date in Numbers
Re: Value of a date in Numbers
- Subject: Re: Value of a date in Numbers
- From: Michelle Steiner <email@hidden>
- Date: Tue, 3 Feb 2009 17:58:14 -0700
On Feb 3, 2009, at 9:31 AM, Luther Fuller wrote:
I think this is a feature. (In fact, I would think recording time
locally would be a bug.) Here's why.
The things (files, folders, &c.) on your computer have a date (or
two) associated with them. If you have a portable, these dates may
have been associated with your files in many different time zones.
If you have moved files from other computers onto your computer, the
associated date originates in many different zones.
Dates are mainly used in two ways: to be displayed and to be
calculated. A displayed date should be displayed in the local time
zone. Calculated dates (including date comparison), on the other
hand, need to be independent of any time zone.
In order to avoid always having to convert to some common time zone,
recorded dates should always be in UTC (Coordinated Universal Time,
related to GMT). If you need to compare dates, you just compare them
without having to convert dates.
However, if you use Applescript to get a date-time from Numbers and
enter it into iCal, the time will be off by the offset from GMT.
For instance, using code snippets.
set x to contents of cell "B5" --of a table in Numbers
make new event with properties {start date: x} -- in iCal
Assuming that the computer is set to Mountain Standard Time:
If the displayed date/time in Numbers is Feb 4, 8 PM
Applescript will return
date "Wednesday, February 4, 2009 1:00:00 PM"
the start date in iCal will be Feb 4, 1 PM
Numbers treats the time in the cell as GMT time and automatically
converts it to local time when passing it to Applescript, but when
Applescript uses that time in iCal, iCal accepts it as local time.
if the displayed start time of an event is 6 PM, it will pass it to
Applescript as 6 PM, regardless of what time zone the computer is set
for.
-- Michelle
--
Patient: But doctor, slow metabolism runs in my family.
Doctor: The problem is nobody runs in your family!
_______________________________________________
Do not post admin requests to the list. They will be ignored.
AppleScript-Users mailing list (email@hidden)
Help/Unsubscribe/Update your Subscription:
Archives: http://lists.apple.com/archives/applescript-users
This email sent to email@hidden