Storing timezones

[ziploc1010]

I would like to store info in a date/time field. However, in addition to the date and time, I also need to know what timezone this info is associated with. Is there a way to also store a time zone in a date/time for a field?

Thanks in advance,
Matthew

 

[THoey]

Couldn't you have a table with locations and the time difference and then just store all times as GMT? The TimeDiff would be the number of hours off of GMT.

For data input, you would have to convert the date/time from local to GMT and the same for displaying of times. The military does that a lot.

tblTimeZones
Location VARCHAR2(25)
TimeDiff NUMBER

I would give you example data, but I don't want to embarrass myself by putting the wrong value for a time zone.

Just a suggestion... Terry M. Hoey
th3856@txmail.sbc.com
While I don't mind e-mail messages, please post all questions in these forums for the benefit of all members.

 

[karluk]

I think Terry's right. I don't believe that Oracle 8i dates have any ability to store time zones, so you will have to handle this in your application: store something equivalent to time zone in another column apart from the date.

I've heard that this is changing in Oracle 9i. I don't know the details, but it's something to keep in mind.