Timestamps in ELF Input Files
CygNet stores data in Coordinated Universal Time (UTC, sometimes called "Greenwich Mean Time").
When creating a data input file for the CygNet ELF system, you can specify the timestamp values in UTC time, or you can specify an offset from the UTC time. If the timestamp value does not have an offset, it is interpreted as the local server time.
It is important to note that this offset method does not support any notion of daylight saving time. If you specify an offset you must adjust the offset for any daylight saving time period. If you don’t do this, and the host server is set to adjust the clock for daylight saving time, then input values will be off by an hour for part of the year.
Timestamps used in elements and attributes in CygNet ELF data input files must be in the dateTime data type format, which takes the following form:
|
yyyy-mm-ddThh:mm:ss.s+Z |
where
| Component | Represents |
|---|---|
| yyyy | The year |
| - | A separator between parts of the date |
| mm | The month |
| - | A separator between parts of the date |
| dd | The day |
| T | A separator indicating that time-of-day follows |
| hh | The hour |
| : | A separator between parts of the time |
| mm | The minutes |
| : | A separator between parts of the time |
| ss | The whole seconds |
| . | A separator between seconds and fractional seconds |
| s+ | The fractional seconds (if present) |
| Z | The time zone (if present). See Time Zone Offset. |
For example, 2024-09-10T12:00:00-05:00 (noon on 10 September 2024, Central Daylight Time as well as Eastern Standard Time in the U.S.) is 2024-09-10T17:00:00Z, five hours later than 2024-09-10T12:00:00Z.
ELF input file examples:
|
<StartTime>2024-01-01T09:00:00.000Z</StartTime> <EndTime>2024-01-01T10:00:00.000Z</EndTime> |
or
|
<start_time="2024-07-22T13:00:00.000Z" end_time="2024-07-22T14:00:00.000Z"> |
Time Zone Offset
To specify UTC time zone, you can enter a timestamp in UTC time with "Z" added after the time. Or you can specify an offset from the UTC time by adding a positive or negative time after the time. The time zone offset takes the following form:
|
('+' | '-') hh ':' mm |
where
| Component | Represents |
|---|---|
| + / - | '+' indicates a nonnegative duration '-' indicates a nonpositive duration |
| hh | The hours |
| : | A separator between parts of the time |
| mm | The minutes |
When a time zone is added to a UTC dateTime, the result is the date and time "in that time zone." For example,
2024-10-10T12:00:00+05:00 is 2024-10-10T07:00:00Z and 2024-10-10T00:00:00+05:00 is 2024-10-10T19:00:00Z.
ELF input file examples:
|
<StartTime>2024-01-01T09:00:00.000-08:00</StartTime> <EndTime>2024-01-01T10:00:00.000-08:00</EndTime> |
or
|
<start_time="2024-07-22T13:00:00.000-07:00" end_time="2024-07-22T14:00:00.000-07:00"> |
