CODEWITHSUNDEEP
datetimevbscriptregional-settings
Fearghal
Fearghal

Reputation: 11447

VBS incorrect datetime format

I have a VBScript that writes a dateTimne to a file. 

Option Explicit  
Dim fso, path, file, recentDate, recentFile, objFileHandle
Set fso = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
Set recentFile = Nothing
For Each file in fso.GetFolder("\\path\folder").Files
  If (recentFile is Nothing) Then
    Set recentFile = file
  ElseIf (file.DateLastModified < recentFile.DateLastModified) Then
    Set recentFile = file
  End If
Next

Set objFileHandle = fso.OpenTextFile("\\path\folder\DateTime.Txt", 2, "True")
objFileHandle.Write(FormatDateTime(recentFile.DateLastModified) )
objFileHandle.Close

When i run it manually on my server it gives me a US format of mm/dd/yyyy hh:mm:ss AM eg 11/14/2013 9:20:56 AM.

When i run it on my Laptop it gives me back the UK format i actually want - dd/mm/yyyy hh:mm:ss AM eg 14/11/2013 9:20:56 AM.

Any ideas whats going on here?

Upvotes: 1

Views: 5874

Answers (4)

AutomatedChaos
AutomatedChaos

Reputation: 7490

The question is already answered, but I am wondered why nobody suggests setting the locale to the correct date time format:

option explicit

dim currentLocale
currentLocale = GetLocale()

SetLocale 2057       ' 2057 is the EN-GB locale
msgbox now
' Output: 15/11/2013 14:50:52 PM    
' Put back the original locale
SetLocale currentLocale

And for creating a date-time-format without use of the locale (the AM / PM setting is sometimes not displayed depending on the settings in the region and language settings configuration of the computer running the script) you can always use a .NET stringbuilder and let the .NET framework do the heavy lifting for you:

Option Explicit

Dim sb : Set sb = CreateObject("System.Text.StringBuilder")
sb.AppendFormat "{0:dd/MM/yyyy h:mm:ss tt}", Now()
Msgbox sb.ToString()
' Output: 15/11/2013 14:55:10 PM

Upvotes: 4

foxidrive
foxidrive

Reputation: 41287

This Windows batch script uses a VBS routine to give reliable date variables.

You'll need to extract the VBS script and modify it where needed.

  :: date time using WSH/VBS
  :: datetime.bat V4.2
  ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
  ::
  :: This uses Windows Scripting Host to set variables to
  :: the current date/time/day/day_number/week_of_year etc
  :: for Win9x/ME/NT/W2K/XP/Vista/Win7/Win8 etc
  :: Thanks go to Todd Vargo for his scripting
  ::
  ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
  @echo off
  set TmpFile="%temp%.\tmp.vbs"
  echo> %TmpFile% n=Now
  echo>>%TmpFile% With WScript
  echo>>%TmpFile% .Echo "set m1="   + monthname(month(n), true)
  echo>>%TmpFile% .Echo "set m2="   + monthname(month(n), false)
  echo>>%TmpFile% .Echo "set woy="  + CStr(datepart("ww", n))
  echo>>%TmpFile% .Echo "set year=" + CStr(Year(n))
  echo>>%TmpFile% .Echo "set yr="   + Right(Year(n),2)
  echo>>%TmpFile% .Echo "set month="+ Right(100+Month(n),2)
  echo>>%TmpFile% .Echo "set day="  + Right(100+Day(n),2)
  echo>>%TmpFile% .Echo "set hour=" + Right(100+Hour(n),2)
  echo>>%TmpFile% .Echo "set min="  + Right(100+Minute(n),2)
  echo>>%TmpFile% .Echo "set sec="  + Right(100+Second(n),2)
  echo>>%TmpFile% .Echo "set dow="  + WeekDayName(Weekday(n),1)
  echo>>%TmpFile% .Echo "set dow2=" + WeekDayName(Weekday(n))
  echo>>%TmpFile% .Echo "set iso="  + CStr(1 + Int(n-2) mod 7)
  echo>>%TmpFile% .Echo "set iso2=" + CStr(Weekday(n,2))
  echo>>%TmpFile% End With
  cscript //nologo "%temp%.\tmp.vbs" > "%temp%.\tmp.bat"
  call "%temp%.\tmp.bat"
  del  "%temp%.\tmp.bat"
  del  %TmpFile%
  set TmpFile=
  set stamp=%year%-%month%-%day%.%hour%_%min%_%sec%

  if not "%~1"=="" goto :EOF

  echo The year  is "%year%" or "%yr%"
  echo The month is "%month%" "%m1%" "%m2%"
  echo The day   is "%day%" "%dow%" "%dow2%"
  echo.
  echo ISO8601 Day-Of-Week number is "%iso%" and week of year is: "%woy%"

  echo.
  echo The time in hh:mm:ss is "%hour%:%min%:%sec%"
  echo The hour   is "%hour%"
  echo The minute is "%min%"
  echo The second is "%sec%"
  echo.

  echo The date and time stamp is "%stamp%"
  echo.
  echo date A yyyymmdd "%year%%month%%day%"
  echo date B mmddyyyy "%month%%day%%year%"
  echo date C ddmmyyyy "%day%%month%%year%"
  echo date D yymmdd   "%yr%%month%%day%"
  echo date E mmddyy   "%month%%day%%yr%"
  echo date F ddmmyy   "%day%%month%%yr%"
  pause
  :: datetime.bat
  ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Upvotes: 0

M. A.
M. A.

Reputation: 424

Try This:

Option Explicit  
Dim fso, path, file, recentDate, recentFile, objFileHandle
Set fso = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
Set recentFile = Nothing
For Each file in fso.GetFolder("folder").Files
   If (recentFile is Nothing) Then
      Set recentFile = file
   ElseIf (file.DateLastModified < recentFile.DateLastModified) Then
      Set recentFile = file
   End If
Next

' YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS (24h ISO 8601 Format)
' You can permutate parameters and delemiters the way you want.

Dim thisday , thistime
thisday = Date
thistime = Time

Set objFileHandle = fso.OpenTextFile("folder\DateTime.Txt", 2, "True")
objFileHandle.Write(Year(thisday) & "-" & Month(thisday) & "-" & Day(thisday) &" "&  Hour(thistime) & ":" & Minute(thistime) & ":" & Second(thistime) )
objFileHandle.Close

Copy this and past it into your .VBS File and adjust what you want if you are not working with ISO 8601 Standard

Upvotes: 2

Tomalak
Tomalak

Reputation: 338406

VBScript lacks a flexible date formatting function, dates are output according to the current locale of the host running the script.

FormatDateTime() accepts a few constants that modify its output, but you cannot pass a custom format string.

This means you must write your own function that produces a locale-independent format.

In any case: please use ISO 8601 and not any crazy moon formats like mm/dd/yyyy.

Upvotes: 1

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