TCkDateTime Delphi ActiveX Reference Documentation
TCkDateTime
Current Version: 10.1.0
A class for holding a date/time value, and for converting it to from many different formats. The power of this class is that the different date/time formats are implemented across many different operating systems. Many formats specific to Windows are available on Mac OS X, Linux/Unix, etc., and vice-versa. To convert a date/time from one format to another, simply set via one format, and get via another format. This is a freeware class because it is used by many commercial Chilkat components/libs.
Importing the Chilkat ActiveX into Delphi
Important: When upgrading to a new version of Chilkat, make sure to re-imported ActiveX DLL into Delphi to regenerate the files described below.
Chilkat v9.5.*: If using Chilkat v9.5.*, then use "Chilkat_v9_5_0_TLB" instead of "Chilkat_TLB", and the DLLs are named ChilkatAx-9.5.0-win32.dll (or ChilkatAx-9.5.0-x64.dll).
Two things are required to use an ActiveX in Delphi:
- The ActiveX DLL needs to be registered via regsvr32 on the system where the Delphi application runs. See How To Register ActiveX DLLs for detailed information.
- See also: ActiveX Registration Tutorial
- The ActiveX component needs to be "imported". Use the Delphi Import Component Wizard to import the Chilkat type library. This creates the following files: Chilkat_TLB.pas and Chilkat_TLB.dcr. The Chilkat_TLB.pas should be added to your project.
To import the Chilkat type library, do the following:
- In the Delphi RAD Studio, select the menu item "Component" --> "Import a Type Library".
- Find "Chilkat ActiveX" in the list and select it. This will only appear in the list if the ChilkatAx-win32.dll (or ChilkatAx-x64.dll) has been registered w/ regsvr32.
- Check the "Generate Component Wrappers" checkbox.
- Select a directory where the unit files (.pas and .dcr) should be generated.
- Select "Create Unit" and then "Finish".
- Add the .pas to your Delphi project.
To use a Chilkat ActiveX object in your Delphi code, add "Chilkat_TLB" to the "uses" statement. For example:
uses Winapi.Windows, Winapi.Messages, System.SysUtils, System.Variants, System.Classes, Vcl.Graphics, Vcl.Controls, Vcl.Forms, Vcl.Dialogs, Vcl.StdCtrls, Chilkat_TLB;
Object Creation
var obj: TCkDateTime; ... begin obj := TCkDateTime.Create(Self); ... // When finished, free the object instance. obj.Free();
Properties
DebugLogFilePath
If set to a file path, causes each Chilkat method or property call to automatically append it's LastErrorText to the specified log file. The information is appended such that if a hang or crash occurs, it is possible to see the context in which the problem occurred, as well as a history of all Chilkat calls up to the point of the problem. The VerboseLogging property can be set to provide more detailed information.
This property is typically used for debugging the rare cases where a Chilkat method call hangs or generates an exception that halts program execution (i.e. crashes). A hang or crash should generally never happen. The typical causes of a hang are:
- a timeout related property was set to 0 to explicitly indicate that an infinite timeout is desired,
- the hang is actually a hang within an event callback (i.e. it is a hang within the application code), or
- there is an internal problem (bug) in the Chilkat code that causes the hang.
IsDst
This is the Daylight Saving Time flag. It can have one of three possible values: 1, 0, or -1. It has the value 1 if Daylight Saving Time is in effect, 0 if Daylight Saving Time is not in effect, and -1 if the information is not available.
Note: This is NOT the DST for the current system time. It is the DST that was in effect at the date value contained in this object.
topLastBinaryResult
The binary data returned by the last (binary data returning) method called. Only available if Chilkat.Global.KeepBinaryResult is set to 1. This provides a means for obtaining large varbinary results in the SQL Server environment (where limitations exist in getting large amounts of data returned by method calls, but where temp tables can be used for binary properties).
topLastErrorHtml
Provides information in HTML format about the last method/property called. If a method call returns a value indicating failure, or behaves unexpectedly, examine this property to get more information.
topLastErrorText
Provides information in plain-text format about the last method/property called. If a method call returns a value indicating failure, or behaves unexpectedly, examine this property to get more information.
LastErrorXml
Provides information in XML format about the last method/property called. If a method call returns a value indicating failure, or behaves unexpectedly, examine this property to get more information.
topLastMethodSuccess
Indicate whether the last method call succeeded or failed. A value of 1 indicates success, a value of 0 indicates failure. This property is automatically set for method calls. It is not modified by property accesses. The property is automatically set to indicate success for the following types of method calls:
- Any method that returns a string.
- Any method returning a Chilkat object, binary bytes, or a date/time.
- Any method returning a standard boolean status value where success = 1 and failure = 0.
- Any method returning an integer where failure is defined by a return value less than zero.
Note: Methods that do not fit the above requirements will always set this property equal to 1. For example, a method that returns no value (such as a "void" in C++) will technically always succeed.
topLastStringResult
The string return value of the last (string returning) method called. Only available if Chilkat.Global.KeepStringResult is set to 1. This provides a means for obtaining large string results in the SQL Server environment (where limitations exist in getting long strings returned by method calls, but where temp tables can be used for string properties).
LastStringResultLen
The length, in characters, of the string contained in the LastStringResult property.
topUtcOffset
For the current system's timezone, returns the number of seconds offset from UTC for this date/time. The offset includes daylight savings adjustment. Local timezones west of UTC return a negative offset.
topVerboseLogging
If set to 1, then the contents of LastErrorText (or LastErrorXml, or LastErrorHtml) may contain more verbose information. The default value is 0. Verbose logging should only be used for debugging. The potentially large quantity of logged information may adversely affect peformance.
topVersion
Methods
AddDays
Adds an integer number of days to the date/time. To subtract days, pass a negative integer.
Returns 1 for success, 0 for failure.
topAddSeconds
Adds an integer number of seconds to the date/time. To subtract seconds, pass a negative integer.
Returns 1 for success, 0 for failure.
DeSerialize
Loads the date/time with a string having the format as produced by the Serialize method, which is a string of SPACE separated integers containing (in this order) year, month, day, hour, minutes, seconds, and a UTC flag having the value of 1/0.
topDiffSeconds
Returns the difference in seconds between the dateTimeArg and this date/time. The value returned is this object's date/time - dateTimeArg's date/time. For example, if the returned value is positive, then this object's date/time is more recent than dateTimeArg's date/time. If the return value is negative, then this object's date/time is older than dateTimeArg's date/time.
ExpiresWithin
Returns 1 if the date/time is within n seconds/minutes/hours/days of the current system date/time. Otherwise returns 0. The units can be "seconds", "minutes", "hours", or "days" (plural or singular).
GetAsDateTime
Returns the date/time in a native format. The .NET implementation returns a .NET System.DateTime structure. The ActiveX implementation returns a Date object. The C/C++ implementation (and others) returns the date/time in a SYSTEMTIME structure. On Windows, SYSTEMTIME is defined at SYSTEMTIME. On non-Windows systems, Chilkat provides a SYSTEMTIME structure definition in SystemTime.h.
bLocal indicates whether a local or UTC time is returned.
topGetAsDosDate
Returns the date/time as a 32-bit DOS date/time bitmask.
bLocal indicates whether a local or UTC time is returned.
The DOS date/time format is a bitmask:
24 16 8 0 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ |Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|M| |M|M|M|D|D|D|D|D| |h|h|h|h|h|m|m|m| |m|m|m|s|s|s|s|s| +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ \___________/\________/\_________/ \________/\____________/\_________/ year month day hour minute second
The year is stored as an offset from 1980. Seconds are stored in two-second increments. (So if the "second" value is 15, it actually represents 30 seconds.)
topGetAsIso8601
Returns the date/time in a compatible ISO 8601 format according to the format specified in formatStr.. Examples of ISO 8601 formats include the following:
YYYY-MM-DD
YYYY-MM-DDThh:mmTZD
YYYY-MM-DDThh:mm:ssTZD
For the date portion of these formats, YYYY is a four-digit year representation, MM is a two-digit month representation, and DD is a two-digit day representation. For the time portion, hh is the hour representation in 24-hour notation, mm is the two-digit minute representation, and ss is the two-digit second representation. A time designator T separates the date and time portions of the string, while a time zone designator TZD specifies a time zone (UTC).
bLocal indicates whether a local or UTC time is returned.
Note: The bLocal argument is interpreted as the reverse of what is intended . The problem was discovered just after releasing v9.5.0.65. It will be fixed in the next version update.
Returns a zero-length WideString on failure
GetAsOleDate
Returns the date/time in a Windows OLE "DATE" format.
bLocal indicates whether a local or UTC time is returned.
The OLE automation date format is a floating point value, counting days since midnight 30 December 1899. Hours and minutes are represented as fractional days.
topGetAsRfc822
Returns the date/time as an RFC822 formatted string. (An RFC822 format string is what is found in the "Date" header field of an email, such as "Wed, 18 Oct 2017 09:08:21 GMT".)
bLocal indicates whether a local or UTC time is returned.
Returns a zero-length WideString on failure
topGetAsTimestamp
Returns the date/time as an RFC 3339 formatted string, such as "1990-12-31T23:59:60Z". (This is an ISO 8061 format like the following: YYYY-MM-DDThh:mm:ssTZD)
bLocal indicates whether a local or UTC time is returned.
Returns a zero-length WideString on failure
GetAsUnixTime
Returns the date/time as a 32-bit Unix time.
bLocal indicates whether the date/time returned is local or UTC.
Note: With this format, there is a Y2038 problem that pertains to 32-bit signed integers. There are approx 31.5 million seconds per year. The Unix time is number of seconds since the Epoch, 1970-01-01 00:00:00 +0000 (UTC). In 2012, it's 42 years since 1/1/1970, so the number of seconds is approx 1.3 billion. A 32-bit signed integer ranges from -2,147,483,648 to 2,147,483,647 Therefore, if a 32-bit signed integer is used, it turns negative in 2038.
The GetAsUnixTime64 and GetAsUnixTimeDbl methods are provided as solutions to the Y2038 problem.
(Note: The ActiveX Chilkat implementation omits methods that use 64-bit integers because there is no means for passing or returning 64-bit integers in ActiveX.)
topGetAsUnixTimeStr
Returns the time in Unix format (in seconds since the epoch: 00:00:00 UTC on 1 January 1970).
bLocal indicates whether the date/time returned is local or UTC.
Returns a zero-length WideString on failure
GetDtObj
Gets the date/time as a Chilkat "Dt" object.
Returns nil on failure
LoadTaskResult
OlderThan
Returns 1 if the date/time is older than the current system date/time by n seconds/minutes/hours/days. Otherwise returns 0. The units can be "seconds", "minutes", "hours", or "days" (plural or singular).
Serialize
Serializes the date/time to a us-ascii string that can be imported at a later time via the DeSerialize method. The format of the string returned by this method is not intended to match any published standard. It is formatted to a string with SPACE separated integers containing (in this order) year, month, day, hour, minutes, seconds, and a UTC flag having the value of 1 or 0.
Returns a zero-length WideString on failure
topSetFromCurrentSystemTime
Sets the date/time from the current system time.
topSetFromDosDate
Sets the date/time from a 32-bit DOS date/time bitmask. See GetAsDosDate for more information.
topSetFromDtObj
SetFromNtpServer
Sets the date/time by sending a query to an NTP server.
Note: The SetFromNtpServer method is available starting in v9.5.0.96 for most Chilkat builds, but not all. If the SetFromNtpServer method is not present, contact support@chilkatsoft.com for a hotfix build. It should be available in all programming languages/platforms starting in v9.5.0.97
Returns 1 for success, 0 for failure.
SetFromNtpTime
Sets the date/time from a 32-bit NTP time value. ntpSeconds is the number of seconds since 00:00 (midnight) 1 January 1900 GMT.
topSetFromOleDate
Sets the date/time from a Windows OLE "DATE" value.
bLocal indicates whether the passed in date/time is local or UTC.
Note: This method was not working correctly. The problem was discovered just after releasing v9.5.0.65. It will be fixed in the next version update.
topSetFromRfc822
Sets the date/time from an RFC822 date/time formatted string. Here are some examples of RFC822 formatted date/times:
Tue, 15 Nov 2022 22:00:58 +0000 Tue, 15 Nov 2022 20:21:50 +0100 Tue, 01 Nov 2022 18:09:41 -0600
Returns 1 for success, 0 for failure.
topSetFromTimestamp
Sets the date/time from an RFC 3339 timestamp format. (such as "1990-12-31T23:59:60Z:")
(This is an ISO 8061 format like the following: YYYY-MM-DDThh:mm:ssTZD)
Note: Starting in v9.5.0.77, strings formatted as "YYMMDDhhmmssZ", such as "181221132225Z", can also be passed to this method.
Returns 1 for success, 0 for failure.
SetFromUlid
Sets this object's date/time using the timestamp embedded in the ulid. If the ulid was not a valid ULID, returns 0 and the date/time is not set. bLocal indicates whether the ulid uses a local time or UTC time.
Returns 1 for success, 0 for failure.
SetFromUnixTime
Sets the date/time from a 32-bit UNIX time value. (See GetAsUnixTime for information about the Y2038 problem.)
bLocal indicates whether the passed in date/time is local or UTC.
topUlidGenerate
Generates and returns a new ULID using this object's date/time value. bLocal indicates whether to use local time or UTC time.
Returns a zero-length WideString on failure
UlidIncrement
UlidValidate
Validates the ulid. Returns 1 if the ulid is valid, otherwise returns 0.
Returns 1 for success, 0 for failure.