MySQL + PHP Timezone Issue - php

I currently use $curdate=date('Y-m-d H:i:s'); to enter a timestamp to my blog's MySQL.
The problem is that the timezone of my MySQL is 2 hours ahead. At least in the timesaving period (I don't know if it is going to be any different when the timesaving period is over).
How should I redefine $curdate so that it records correct time based on PST time?

You can set the timezone the PHP uses for the duration of the execution of your script with date_default_timezone_set().
If you need to do something in your own timezone later in the execution of you script, you can call it again to set it back.
Alternatively (better?), if you use the MySQL NOW() function in your query, the time entered into the database will be calculated by MySQL, according to it's own timezone.

Related

how to set local time in project irrespective of server location

I have my project based in India and my hosting server located somewhere that is at a difference of -5:30 HRs from Indian time.
So my time being stored in database is coming as based on there timings. How can I rectify this in PHP so that the time actually gets stored on India.
I tried using date_default_timezone_set('Asia/Kolkata');
but still the time gets stored with a difference of -30mins to -45mins. What could be possible code fort his so that the time sets exactly according to Indian timings. Any advice will be very helpful.
Step-1: Set timezone as asia/kolkata
Step-2: Now, first store the
date in local variable, example: $mydate = date('Y-m-d H:i:s'); and
just print the variable value to see, if it is the time as you want?
Step-3: If yes then store $mydate variable value in database.
You can set the timezone in the database.
Few more threads of the same topic are here:
MySQL Time Zones
Set MySQL database timezone to GMT
MySQL timezone change?
If you want to store the current date/time on your database and use the timezone you have. Try to use now() function.
Reference Link: https://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.7/en/date-and-time-functions.html#function_now
As you said your server is running at -5.30 hours from India, get the dates like this:
date('d-m-Y H:i:s',strtotime('+330 minutes')); // this adds 5.30 hours to the current time.

MySQL Query "How long ago" + 6hours

With the help of a friend, I got a webpage going that tracks different stats and saves it in an SQL database.
One of the information that returns, is when the latest score was submitted to the database. It works fine, but the webhost is in a different timezone and I am unable to change that timezone.
So therefore I was thinking about changing our query to one which returns how long ago the score was added.
Current code:
$statement = $adapter->query("
select name,
SUM(score_1) as score_1,
SUM(score_2) as score_2,
SUM(score_3) as score_3,
(SUM(score_1)+SUM(score_2)+SUM(score_3)) as total,
DATE_FORMAT(MAX(creation_time), '%d %b %H:%i') as creation_time
from score_entry
WHERE DATE(creation_time) = CURDATE()
group by name ORDER BY total DESC");
It grabs the information stored in the past day (from 00:00 this day), and I'm not sure if that is also affected by the incorrect timezone.
After a lot of searching around, I can't seem to find the solution to my exact problem.
I have tried to set the timezone in MySQL, but it's a shared host by Namecheap, they don't allow it.
Take a look at the time zone documentation.
Using the SET time_zone = timezone; command you will be able to set the time zone on a per-connection basis.
In addition, storing dates in a TIMESTAMP column makes MySQL convert the time to UTC and then it converts it back to the current time zone when you access it. Thus it makes storing and retrieving time zone agnostic.
Set the time zone in your PHP script using the posted solution. It's also possible to send it the datetime to use in your query using PHP's date function.

Timezones and cron

I have a MySQL database containing details of shops in different time zones. The timezone of each store is stored in iana format and the MySQL datetimes are stored in UTC.
I wish to execute some php code at the end of the day for each shop.
This is how I am thinking to approach this but is there a better way?
Set a cron to run hourly at xx:59:59.
Get the current date at the top of the php script. Is the script guaranteed to get the correct date at 23:59:59?
Use SQL query to return all shops that are at the end of the current day. I'm not sure how to check this in the query?
Perform the end of the day processing on those stores.
You can run an hourly cron job any time you wish.
Why do you need the date here? You wrote that you're interested in the servers, which are at 23:59:59 localtime, so time is relevant, I think, not the date. Also, if your details server is very busy, your script might run too late and get the next day's date.
If IANA time zone format means offset to UTC, you could simply look for shops having a timezone like
24 - current time(UTC) +/- DST
Negative timezone offsets work similar, e.g. 24 + offset. So timezone offset -01:00 would become +23:00
Nothing to say here.

Getting Current Time/Date - Saving To SQL Database

I have an application that posts to an PHP script, I want the PHP script to basically grab the current time and date, and insert it into my SQL database.
I'm currently doing this by using '$time()' within PHP, and then passing that into my SQL DB. In order to retrieve the time and date back, I use 'gmdate("M d Y H:i:s", $time);'.
I have a few questions though:
When I test this, the time it saves is an hour behind, so how do I apply different time zones? (I'm currently London/England) - but that might not be the case for the user who use this application.
Where is PHP retrieving the time from? Is it local? From the server?
Within my SQL, what should I set the data type to be? Timestamp? Currently, I've set it to varchar - but with all these different date and time types, I'm not so sure? (Date, Datetime, Time, Timestamp).
This PHP is called every time the user opens the application, so I want to be able to see: 'ah, so I see this user opened the application up at 21:20 on Wednesday the 14th'.
I'm sorry if its a noob question, but theres so many time and date classes and functions for both PHP and SQL that my brain has over loaded!
For a start, PHP time gets it's time from the server it's running on.
But if you really want the time a record was inserted, you should do one of the following:
Create a field in the table of type datetime, and set the default to:
GETDATE()
This will set the time automatically without you having to do anything special.
If you need that at time of input, still use SQL:
update [tablename] set LastUpdate=GETDATE()
Doing it this way ensures that the time is exactly when the record was set.
The PHP Time() function returns the EPOCH time (Seconds since January 1 1970 00:00:00 GMT).
You can use date_default_timezone_set() along with strftime() or mktime() to convert this to the servers local time.
You could set this via your application for the user if they're in a different timezone.
I linked the PHP manual pages for each function listed above.
What about to create a DateTime Field on MySQL table Structure and use MySQL to grab and set the date with NOW()?. Let MySQL do most calculations, it will help you to optimize the response time of your PHP script.
Look into this example: http://www.w3schools.com/sql/func_now.asp
Following the example of that page, but for an UPDATE:
UPDATE orders set OrderDate=NOW() WHERE OrderId=9999
Setting Timezone will fix the issue. I guess.
$date = date_create('2000-01-01', timezone_open('Pacific/Nauru'));
echo date_format($date, 'Y-m-d H:i:sP') . "\n";
date_timezone_set($date, timezone_open('Pacific/Chatham'));
echo date_format($date, 'Y-m-d H:i:sP') . "\n";

PHP date with 30 mins added, is reversed when inserted into MySQL datetime column

I believe I'm going mad.
$expire = date('Y-m-d H:i:s', strtotime("+30 minutes") );
It works as expected when echoed, yet when I insert it into a custom table via the wordpress database class, into a datetime column it's showing current time minus 30 mins.
Am I mad?
Simply given the time frame you are working with, it makes me wonder if you are seeing a Standard/Daylight time conflict, assuming you observe daylight savings time where you are.
First, See if you experience the same issue with "+60 minutes" as a test. If it is then -60 in the database, then it may be a bug, however, if it is then the current time in the database, it may actually be a timezone issue.
Make sure all of your timezones are properly configured on your host OSes and in your database. If the database column is of the type "timestamp" then mysql converts it to UTC on storage, and back on retrieval, so a mis-configured timezone could cause a 1 hour offset there as well.
Hope This Helps!
All date and time functions are now dependent upon a correct timezone setting.
You can either do this in your script
date_default_timezone_set('America/Los_Angeles'); // for example
OR
Check your php.ini for this setting
date.timezone = UTC
And set it correctly for your specific timezone, here is a List of supported timezones which you will need either way

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