# Date helper bug? **URL:** \ **Category:** Rails\ **Created:** [February 21, 2007, 11:41pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/date-helper-bug/86394 "2007-02-21T23:41:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![kreiggers](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/k/ac91a4/32.png) [@kreiggers](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/kreiggers)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2007, 11:41pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/date-helper-bug/86394/1 "2007-02-21T23:41:01Z")
I’ve found an issue when trying to use the time\_ago\_in\_words and distance\_of\_time\_in\_words from action view’s date\_helper.rb Using SQL Server, I have a datetime column that gets returned as: “2007/02/21 09:54:00”. When I pass this to time\_ago\_in\_words (which just passes on to distance\_of\_time\_in\_words) it miscalculates the difference as “9 hours” (…um yeah, it was 10:54 when I tested this), when the difference should have been “1 hour”. So I fired up script/ console to see what was going on… # setting up to use the date\_helpers… > > helper.extend ApplicationHelper > > =\> #Object:0x391bfd8 # my record from SQL server returns time like this… > > t.updated\_on > > =\> "“2007/02/20 15:09:04"” > > > t.updated\_on.class > > =\> String # so make a string in same format that represents ~1 hour ago… > > nine\_54 = “2007/02/21 09:54:00” > > =\> “2007/02/21 09:54:00” # see what the helper gives me… (about 1 hour difference from Time.now) > > helper.time\_ago\_in\_words(nine\_54) > > =\> “about 9 hours” # looking at date\_helper.rb I see that parameters passed in are called with to\_time method… > > nine\_54.to\_time > > =\> Wed Feb 21 09:54:00 UTC 2007 > > > Time.now.to\_time > > =\> Wed Feb 21 11:04:34 Pacific Standard Time 2007 # A ha! So we’re off by the difference in time zones between PST and UTC (GMT?). So poking around a bit more… > > Time.parse(nine\_54) > > =\> Wed Feb 21 09:54:00 Pacific Standard Time 2007 Success! So in my view, all I have to do to get the correct time is use time\_ago\_in\_words(Time.parse(updated\_on)) for it to work. So is this a bug? It is correctly parsing the difference in the times when considering the time zone differences, but what about the difference between Time.parse and to\_time? Shouldn’t these return the same answer? What about the datetime from SQL server? Is the value in the db stored with tzone info, or is to\_time just assuming a defualt tzone of UTC? ---
**Author:** ![kreiggers](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/k/ac91a4/32.png) [@kreiggers](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/kreiggers)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2007, 3:05am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/date-helper-bug/86394/2 "2007-02-22T03:05:21Z")
On Feb 21, 2007, at 2:53 PM, kreiggers wrote: > I’ve found an issue when trying to use the time\_ago\_in\_words and > distance\_of\_time\_in\_words from action view’s date\_helper.rb > > Using SQL Server, I have a datetime column that gets returned as: > “2007/02/21 09:54:00”. When I pass this to time\_ago\_in\_words (which > just passes on to distance\_of\_time\_in\_words) it miscalculates the > difference as “9 hours” (…um yeah, it was 10:54 when I tested this), > when the difference should have been “1 hour”. So I fired up script/ > console to see what was going on… > > So is this a bug? It is correctly parsing the difference in the times > when considering the time zone differences, but what about the > difference between Time.parse and to\_time? Shouldn’t these return the > same answer? > > What about the datetime from SQL server? Is the value in the db stored > with tzone info, or is to\_time just assuming a defualt tzone of UTC? In your config/environment.rb, find and uncomment: # Make Active Record use UTC-base instead of local time config.active\_record.default\_timezone = :utc So your database times will be UTC. -Rob Rob B. [http://agileconsultingllc.com](http://agileconsultingllc.com) removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid ---
**Author:** ![kreiggers](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/k/ac91a4/32.png) [@kreiggers](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/kreiggers)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2007, 7:28pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/date-helper-bug/86394/3 "2007-02-23T19:28:31Z")
On Feb 21, 6:04 pm, Rob B. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > In your config/environment.rb, find and uncomment: > > # Make Active Record use UTC-base instead of local time > > config.active\_record.default\_timezone = :utc > > So your database times will be UTC. The times coming out of the database are already coming out as UTC when they’re really PST times… i.e. PST time input → stored in db - > rails retrieves a UTC time, all along the only thing that changes in > this is the tzone (0900 Feb 21 2007 PST → database → 0900 Feb 21 > 2007 UTC). I don’t have control of the data in the database. All I can do is read the data. Can I force the dates to come out as PST?