Time Zone Offset (for v1.3.0-thru-v1.3.9d ONLY)

bogia:

After I installed Time Zone Offset module, the date in my website and my admin page is still shown in dd/mm/yy format. I tried to make an order and saw that the date of order (purchased date)in confirmation email before Time Zone Offset is show in D/dd/mm/yy format like Saturday 24th Feruary 2007 while one after Time Zone Offset is shown in yy/mm/dd H/M/S like 2007-02-24 15:30:25. Can you tell me why this change has occured?

I observed the same behavior when I first installed an older version of the TZO mod (01-12-06) on Zen cart 1.26 shop and later mod version (02-13-06) on Zen cart 1.27.

And the latest version of the mod behaves the same on my Zen cart 1.37 shop.

I have just lived with it and thus have not investigated. But if you're really into troubleshooting this then below are some hints (not necessarily solutions).

A date format transformation might be occurring on $date_purchased when inserted into the the database.

And/or issue may be impacted by a change by the mod to a default Zen cart function (e.g. zen_date_long) and/or a related class (e.g. /includes/classes/order.php).

To get around the issue, after querying the date_purchased to display on the orders email (in /admin/orders.php or elsewhere), you should be able to transform date format to display in a format more to your liking (without impacting the underlying data format the database understands). All that is needed is to change to a different date format function from zen_date_long to something else (create your own date format function, using zen_date_long as your basis).

A couple of places to poke around (line numbers might be a bit different in your install):

/admin/orders.php
Line #108 : EMAIL_TEXT_DATE_ORDERED . ' ' . zen_date_long($check_status->fields['date_purchased']) . "\n\n" .

Line #116 : $html_msg['EMAIL_TEXT_DATE_ORDERED'] = EMAIL_TEXT_DATE_ORDERED . ' ' . zen_date_long($check_status->fields['date_purchased']);

/includes/functions/functions_email.php
Line #361 : if ($block['EMAIL_DATE_LONG']=='') $block['EMAIL_DATE_LONG'] = zen_date_long(date("Y-m-d"));

/includes/functions/functions_general.php
Line #194 : function zen_date_long($raw_date) {

/admin/includes/functions/general.php
Line #145 : function zen_date_long($raw_date) {

Woody

Woodymon:

I observed the same behavior when I first installed an older version of the TZO mod (01-12-06) on Zen cart 1.26 shop and later mod version (02-13-06) on Zen cart 1.27.

And the latest version of the mod behaves the same on my Zen cart 1.37 shop.

I have just lived with it and thus have not investigated. But if you're really into troubleshooting this then below are some hints (not necessarily solutions).

Woody

Hmmm......
Its always been that way for me, didn't really notice that the default was meant to be different. :dontgetit
I might also have a look in functions_general.php which is where the zen_date_long() function is found when I get some spare time.

bogia:

Hi!
I am using zen v1.3.7 and dd/mm/yy date format. However, after installing time zone offset, I recognised that the date format in confirmation emails of orders has been changed into yy/mm/dd format. Can anybody help me to set dd/mm/yy date format in the confirmation email? Thank you so much in advance.

OK Quick fix for now
in the Time Zone Offset 1.3.7 mod
in /includes/classes/order.php

around line 891 find

    EMAIL_TEXT_DATE_ORDERED . ' ' . $orderdate . "\n" .

and replace with

    EMAIL_TEXT_DATE_ORDERED . ' ' . strftime(DATE_FORMAT_LONG, mktime(0, 0, 0, substr($orderdate, 5, 2), substr($orderdate, 8, 2), substr($orderdate, 0, 4))) . "\n" .

That will fix it for now until I update the contrib.
Thanks for picking this up, I had no idea that it altered the emails

You are GREAT! gilby:clap:. By using your suggested code, I have just got back the D/dd/mm/yyyy date format in the confirmation emails. Again, thank you so much for your helping.

While I was working on that I also found a way to fix the date time in the "Office Use Only" part of the confirmation emails

If you use the /admin/includes/extra_configures/time_offset.php to set the php time in admin. This is the file that sets the "TZ" variable to your time zone.

Copy this file also to /includes/extra_configures/time_offset.php
This will set the php time for the catalog side as well and the date time in the emails will now be correct.

Disclaimer!!!! Haven't tested this extensively to make sure it doesn't stuff anything else up. Test with care & let me know any side affects.

DanTheMan:

I installed Time Zone Offset and it works great! Thanks, gilby!

One thing I noticed though is PayPal (both IPN and Express Checkout) date / time stamps are still wrong.

PayPal IPN uses server time, while PayPal Express Checkout is all over the map - I guess it uses the time zone from where the payment originates or something.

Can this be addressed by enhancing Time Zone Offset or is it a limitation of PayPal payment modules?

Thanks!

Dan G.

http://www.NotebookSolutions.ca

Hey Dan I wonder if setting the TZ variable in the catalog side as per my previous post would fix the PayPal time stamp problems.
Maybe you could try it & let us all know

gilby:

While I was working on that I also found a way to fix the date time in the "Office Use Only" part of the confirmation emails

If you use the /admin/includes/extra_configures/time_offset.php to set the php time in admin. This is the file that sets the "TZ" variable to your time zone.

Copy this file also to /includes/extra_configures/time_offset.php
This will set the php time for the catalog side as well and the date time in the emails will now be correct.

Disclaimer!!!! Haven't tested this extensively to make sure it doesn't stuff anything else up. Test with care & let me know any side affects.
I did a test with your suggestion for date time in the "Office Use Only" part, and the time of my time zone is now shown correctly. Howerver, the date format is different from one in the confirmation emails to customers. the former is D/mm/dd/yyyy H:M:S, and the latter is D/dd/mm/yyyy. And one more difference is that the date in the "Office Use Only" part is not shown correctly in my setlocale() setting while one in customer's confirmation email is shown perfectly. gilby, can you fix these problems?

bogia:

I did a test with your suggestion for date time in the "Office Use Only" part, and the time of my time zone is now shown correctly. Howerver, the date format is different from one in the confirmation emails to customers. the former is D/mm/dd/yyyy H:M:S, and the latter is D/dd/mm/yyyy. And one more difference is that the date in the "Office Use Only" part is not shown correctly in my setlocale() setting while one in customer's confirmation email is shown perfectly. gilby, can you fix these problems?

Hi bogia
Not sure of the problem you are having :dontgetit

In my test
The confirmation email to the customer has this date format

Date Ordered: Monday 26 February, 2007There are no other dates on this document.

The confirmation email to admin has the same date format

Date Ordered: Monday 26 February, 2007As well in the "Office Use Only" section it has this date format
Date and Time: Mon Feb 26 2007 11:39:17 EST
Comparing with a cart without the time zone added, this appears to be the same default behaviour.

I am in Oz and have never needed to setlocale() so I am not sure if this could change something for you.

I can't see the problem that you are having, you might need to clarify it for me.

gilby:

Hi bogia
Not sure of the problem you are having :dontgetit

In my test
The confirmation email to the customer has this date format
There are no other dates on this document.

The confirmation email to admin has the same date format
As well in the "Office Use Only" section it has this date format

Comparing with a cart without the time zone added, this appears to be the same default behaviour.

I am in Oz and have never needed to setlocale() so I am not sure if this could change something for you.

I can't see the problem that you are having, you might need to clarify it for me.

Hi gilby
You are quite right to say that comparing a cart with Time Zone Offset installed with one without Time Zone Offset installed, the date in the confirmation email to admin and the customer and in the "Office Use Only" section has the same format. I checked my emails and could see this. I think my prombles are not from Time Zone Offset setting but from default zencart code. You said you have not ever set setlocale() before, so I think my questions in my last post was not clear enough for you.　I am so sorry about that.
OK let me clarify my problems for you. I am from Vietnam, so I need to set setlocale() to shown day name and month name in Vietnamese. Back to my first proplem, the date in the confirmation email to the customer and admin is shown in Vietnamese, but one in the "Office Use Only" section is shown in default English. My question is why this difference happens.
I am using the dd/mm/yyyy date format. Reading your last post I saw that you are using the same date format as me. Am I wrong? Here is my second problem. As you know the date in the confirmation email to the customer has long date format of D/dd/mm/yyyy while one in the "Office Use Only" area has short date format with time (D/m/d/y H:M:S). I don't care about long or short date and time, but I really care about the oder of date anh month. Is there any way to set the date formart in the "Office Use Only" area from D/m/d/y to D/d/m/y? gilby can you see my problems now? As I've said before, these problems maybe come from Zencart code, so I thinh you don't need to fix your great Time Zone Offset code. And last words: I really appreciate you if you help me to fix these problems:D

bogia:

Hi gilby
OK let me clarify my problems for you. I am from Vietnam, so I need to set setlocale() to shown day name and month name in Vietnamese. Back to my first proplem, the date in the confirmation email to the customer and admin is shown in Vietnamese, but one in the "Office Use Only" section is shown in default English. My question is why this difference happens.

Where do you have the setlocale() code
I assume in /admin/includes/extra_configures/
If so try putting a copy in /includes/extra_configures/
to see if this fixes the "Office Use Only" language problem on the catalog side

bogia:

I am using the dd/mm/yyyy date format. Reading your last post I saw that you are using the same date format as me. Am I wrong? Here is my second problem. As you know the date in the confirmation email to the customer has long date format of D/dd/mm/yyyy while one in the "Office Use Only" area has short date format with time (D/m/d/y H:M:S). I don't care about long or short date and time, but I really care about the oder of date anh month. Is there any way to set the date formart in the "Office Use Only" area from D/m/d/y to D/d/m/y?

line 426 in /includes/functions/functions_email.php

OFFICE_DATE_TIME . "\t" . date("D M j Y G:i:s T") . "\n\n";defines the format in the "Office Use Only"
Edit this & save to your override directory (actually not sure if you can override this, might have to overwrite it)

Hi gilby!

I've set setlocale() in both english.php, not in /includes/extra_configures/. On my website the date in admin page, invoice page, ship packing page,as well as order history page is now being shown in Vietnamese with long day format. I don't think the way you mentioned above can solve my problem of showing the date of the "Office Use Only" section in Vietnamese, but I'll give it a try.

About the date format in the "Office Use Only" area, I'll try your solution and inform the result to you in my next post.

Thank you so much for helping me

gilby:

line 426 in /includes/functions/functions_email.php
Quote:
OFFICE_DATE_TIME . "\t" . date("D M j Y G:i:s T") . "\n\n";
defines the format in the "Office Use Only"
Edit this & save to your override directory (actually not sure if you can override this, might have to overwrite it)

Hi gilby,

By editing the code you suggested above, I could change the order of date and month in the "Office Use Only" section. The date can be shown perfectly in D/d/m/y format. However, to localise the date in this section, I am using strftime() instead of date(). It seems that string strftime() can show the localised date better than string date(). Now my cart can show the localised date according to my locale setting in the confirmation email to admin, customer, as well as in the "Office Use Only" section. Again, I really owe you for your help and just want to say thank you so much.

Hi Gilby,

I don't see a response from Dan regarding the Paypal Express issue.

I added a copy of /admin/includes/extra_configures/time_offset.php to the /includes/extra_configures folder per posting #25. See also posting #26.

On my order details/comments screen in admin, the "Date Added" column for **Paypal Express **payments reflects my server time (located in the Eastern Time Zone - Boston) without offsetting for my store time. All other timestamps on the order details page correctly reflects my store time (Mountain Time - Colorado). I used a personal Paypal account to pay this test purchase. Interestingly, when I refunded the purchase back into my personal account, the timestamp for the refund correctly displayed my store time.

I have ZenCart 1.3.7 and Time Zone Offset version 1.3.7 installed (with the extra time_offset.php file in the catalog side.... does this file need any tweaking? I simply duplicated the same file from admin.)

After posting my refund, I made another purchase using the regular **Paypal IPN **(not Paypal Express). The timestamps (including the posting of the refund) correctly reflected store time.

This issue appears to be limited to Paypal Express transactions. Does anyone know if a similar discrepancy appears for stores that do not have Time Zone Offset contribution installed? I searched the Paypal Express Support forum and didn't find any comments either way.

Note: When a Paypal Express payment is posted, there is information posted in the comments column showing Paypal's own timestamp in Z (or GMT). The time posted in Zencart's "Date Added" column matches that GMT time offset by -6 hours which in turn matches local time at my server location in Boston. My configured offset is -2 hrs, the difference from Eastern to Mountain time.

Ron

ronlee67:

Hi Gilby,
I have ZenCart 1.3.7 and Time Zone Offset version 1.3.7 installed (with the extra time_offset.php file in the catalog side.... does this file need any tweaking? I simply duplicated the same file from admin.)
Ron
Shouldn't, it just sets that sessions server (php) time

ronlee67:

Hi Gilby,
This issue appears to be limited to Paypal Express transactions. Does anyone know if a similar discrepancy appears for stores that do not have Time Zone Offset contribution installed? I searched the Paypal Express Support forum and didn't find any comments either way.
Ron

I have never used paypal but things to look for would be
Does paypal return the timestamp as part of its own data?
Is mysql's now() function used to store the timestamp?. If so an offset could be applied as per the contrib to offset this "now()" function. Mysql uses its own timestamp that can't be set. (I think mysql5 might be able to do it?). So you need to offset it each time it stores timestamps in the database.

Still with only -2 hours difference its probably only a minor irritation.
My times vary between +14, +15, & +16 hours depending on daylight saving times between here & the server.

When I get back from a 2 weeks trip that I am about to start I will have a look.

gilby:

Shouldn't, it just sets that sessions server (php) time

I have never used paypal but things to look for would be
Does paypal return the timestamp as part of its own data?
Is mysql's now() function used to store the timestamp?. If so an offset could be applied as per the contrib to offset this "now()" function. Mysql uses its own timestamp that can't be set. (I think mysql5 might be able to do it?). So you need to offset it each time it stores timestamps in the database.

Still with only -2 hours difference its probably only a minor irritation.
My times vary between +14, +15, & +16 hours depending on daylight saving times between here & the server.

When I get back from a 2 weeks trip that I am about to start I will have a look.
Thanks Gilby. Hope you have a good trip.

The only real problem caused by the timestamps for Paypal Express transactions is how they throw the comments out of chronological order. This happens even with a 1 hour difference. In my case the difference totaled six hours. Adding the time_offset.php file to the catalog side does reduce the difference and of course fixes the email timestamps as well.

I will delve into this using your suggestions.

The "Date Added" and "Comments" columns display data from the "date_added" and "comments" fields of the "order_status_history" table.

The question then gets narrowed down to how the Paypal Express Checkout payment module updates the "date_added" field. If it is posting a timestamp delivered by Paypal I think this should changed to post the store's server time(which is an issue for the authors of the Paypal Express module.) A Paypal timestamp in GMT is already included in the "comments".

In my opinion the "Date Added" column should only be posted with the store server timestamp (with appropriate offset as needed).

I'll dig into that over the next few days and let you know what I find.

By the way, I use MySql5 on my hosted server.

Ron

Hi again Gilby:

I believe I have located the code in the Paypal Express module that posts the date/time in the admin order details pages comment section. It is located in /includes/modules/payment/paypalwpp.php on line 745 (latest vers 3/21/2007 of Paypal Express module). I have included the code for the entire section that posts comments:

     
* When the order returns from the processor, this stores the results in order-status-history and logs data for subsequent use
   */
  function after_process() {
    global $insert_id, $db, $order;
    // add a new OSH record for this order's PP details
    $commentString = "Transaction ID: :transID: " . 
		                 (isset($this->responsedata['PPREF']) ? "\nPPRef: " . $this->responsedata['PPREF'] : "") . 
										 (isset($this->responsedata['AUTHCODE'])? "\nAuthCode: " . $this->responsedata['AUTHCODE'] : "") . 
                                 "\nPayment Type: :pmtType: " . 
                                 "\nTimestamp: :pmtTime: " . 
                                 "\nPayment Status: :pmtStatus: " . 
                     ($this->avs != 'N/A' ? "\nAVS Code: ".$this->avs."\nCVV2 Code: ".$this->cvv2 : '') .
                                 "\nAmount: :orderAmt: ";
    $commentString = $db->bindVars($commentString, ':transID:', $this->transaction_id, 'noquotestring');
    $commentString = $db->bindVars($commentString, ':pmtType:', $this->payment_type, 'noquotestring');
    $commentString = $db->bindVars($commentString, ':pmtTime:', $this->payment_time, 'noquotestring');
    $commentString = $db->bindVars($commentString, ':pmtStatus:', $this->payment_status, 'noquotestring');
    $commentString = $db->bindVars($commentString, ':orderAmt:', $this->amt, 'noquotestring');

    $sql_data_array= array(array('fieldName'=>'orders_id', 'value'=>$insert_id, 'type'=>'integer'),
                           array('fieldName'=>'orders_status_id', 'value'=>$order->info['order_status'], 'type'=>'integer'),
                           array('fieldName'=>'date_added', 'value'=>'now()', 'type'=>'noquotestring'),
                           array('fieldName'=>'customer_notified', 'value'=>0, 'type'=>'integer'),
                           array('fieldName'=>'comments', 'value'=>$commentString, 'type'=>'string'));
    $db->perform(TABLE_ORDERS_STATUS_HISTORY, $sql_data_array);

I don't fully understand the code needed to impose an offset to the above date code and am hoping you can provide some guidance on how to accomplish it. In my case, I need a negative 2 hour offset.

Many thanks in advance,
Ron

Try replacing the line

array('fieldName'=>'date_added', 'value'=>'now()', 'type'=>'noquotestring'),

with

array('fieldName'=>'date_added', 'value'=>'date_add(now(), INTERVAL ' . TIME_ZONE_OFFSET . ' HOUR) ', 'type'=>'noquotestring'),

and see if it works now....

gilby:

Try replacing the line

array('fieldName'=>'date_added', 'value'=>'now()', 'type'=>'noquotestring'),

> with
> ```php
array('fieldName'=>'date_added', 'value'=>'date_add(now(), INTERVAL ' . TIME_ZONE_OFFSET . ' HOUR) ', 'type'=>'noquotestring'),

and see if it works now....

I checked it out live and it works flawlessly! Many thanks!

You may want to consider adding this as an optional step in the instructions for the next update.

For those reading this, the code changes are for applying the Time Zone Offset to the ZenCart v1.3.7 Paypal Express module (March 21 Paypal Express Update). The code change applies to line 745 of includes/modules/payment/paypalwpp.php.

Gilby, I don't recommend including a modified paypalwpp.php file to the Time Zone Offset fileset at this time as there have been a number of revisions to the Paypal Express moduile since it was issued in mid January and it only applies to ZenCart v1.3.7. The latest revision was March 21, 2007 and it appears to be stable as there have been no issues raised in the forum since this last update came out. This module is now included with the v1.3.7 core files so perhaps in a month or so if there have been no more revisions, you might consider adding a modified paypalwpp.php file to the Time Zone Offset fileset. I'll keep an eye on it and let you know when things settle down on it.

Ron

ronlee67:

I checked it out live and it works flawlessly! Many thanks!

You may want to consider adding this as an optional step in the instructions for the next update.

I'll keep an eye on it and let you know when things settle down on it.

Ron

Thanks for testing it. I will include it in next version

gilby:

Thanks for testing it. I will include it in next version

Gilby:
I just wanted to get back with you and confirm the fix. It works perfectly. No other issues were noted after 45 days of use.

Ron