Language/locale/time/time zone
ShareAspace allows the user interface to be displayed in several languages according to locales defined in the ISO-639 standards.
Language and locale
A locale is either a language or a language in combination with a country.
The language is the actual spoken language in which the user will read the text in the user interface.
A locale can also define the way numbers (with decimals), dates, etc. might be formatted.
Examples
In UK the language is English, the locale might be indicated as "English (United Kingdom)" (en-gb or en) and this will set the decimal separator to ".", the date format as dd/MM/yyyy.
In English(United Kingdom)
10.5 means ten and a half
19/02/2018 is the 19th of February in year 2018
In France the language is French, the locale might be indicated as "French (France)" (fr-fr or fr) and this will set the decimal separator to ",", the date format as dd/MM/yy.
In French(France)
10,5 means ten and a half
19/02/18 is the 19th of February in year 2018
In Sweden the language is Swedish, the locale might be indicated as "Swedish (Sweden)" (sv-se or sv) and this will set the decimal separator to ",", the date format as yyyy-MM-dd.
In Swedish(Sweden)
10,5 means ten and a half
2018-02-19 is the 19th of February in year 2018
In Finland the language can be Finish, the locale might indicated as Finish (Finland) (fi-fi or fi) and this will set the decimal separator to "," , the date format as d.M.YYYY. But in Finland, the language can also be Swedish and in this case the local might be indicated as Swedish (Finland) (sv-fi) and this will set the decimal separator to "," but the date format as yyyy-MM-dd.
In Finish(Finland)
10,5 means ten and a half
19.2.2018 is the 19th of February in year 2018
In Swedish(Finland)
10,5 means ten and a half
2018-02-19 is the 19th of February in year 2018
Time
- The ShareAspace information model stores time as date and time.
- This is true for both the application model as well as the PLM model.
- i.e. there is no representation in ShareAspace for only a date, like "New year's day".
- The ShareAspace data store stores the date and time in UTC see Storage in ShareAspace.
- UTC is used when communicating with ShareAspace, via the REST API, via the import and export functions, and when extracting Excel reports from a ShareAspace query.
- User interface
- The ShareAspace web user interface will format the presentation of date time values using a user's localization settings.
- The ShareAspace web user interface will calculate and present the UTC date time value in accordance with the user's time zone settings.
- As a design guideline for the web user interface implementation and a best practice for any space configuration, date time values will always be presented using both the date and time portions of the date time values.
- This in order to avoid confusion. Presenting only the date portion of a date time value might appear as if the value is a date only value (that might then appear as different dates for users using different time zone settings).
Time zone
A Time Zone usually refers to a local time of a region or a country in the world.
The local time within a time zone is defined by its offset (difference) from the Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), the world's time standard at the prime meridian (0 degree longitude) in Greenwich, London, UK.
The offset is usually expressed as UTC- or UTC+ depending the time zone is East or West from the Greenwich's meridian.
Examples
| Time zone | Time | Offset | abbreviation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Europe/London | 17:30 | +0 | UTC+0 |
| Europe/Paris | 18:30 | +1 | UTC+1 |
| Europe/Stockholm | 18:30 | +1 | UTC+1 |
| Europe/Helsinki | 19:30 | +2 | UTC+2 |
| America/New-York | 12:30 | -5 | UTC-5 |
| America/Mexico City | 11:30 | -6 | UTC-6 |
| Asia/Beijing | 01:30 (next day) | +8 | UTC+8 |
| Australia/Sydney | 04:30 (next day) | +11 | UTC+11 |
Daylight saving time
Some regions in the world are using Daylight Saving Time (DST) or so called "Summer" time. Those regions are ahead of one more hour during the DST period meaning they change time and name during those period. Usually the DST period starts in the spring and stops in the fall (autumn). The exact day when the change is done is recalculated every year.
Tip
In the Northern hemisphere, many countries use DST in the summer time which usually starts between March-April and ends in September-November.
In the Southern hemisphere, the participating countries usually start the DST in September-November and end it in March-April.
Examples
On the 20th April 2018, 10:00 UTC will be
| Time zone | Time | Offset | abbreviation | Summer Time? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Europe/London | 11:00 | +1 | UTC+1 (BST) | Yes |
| Europe/Paris | 12:00 | +2 | UTC+2 (CEST) | Yes |
| Europe/Stockholm | 12:00 | +2 | UTC+1 (CEST) | Yes |
| Europe/Helsinki | 13:00 | +3 | UTC+3 (EEST) | Yes |
| America/New-York | 06:00 | -4 | UTC-4 (EDT) | Yes |
| America/Mexico City | 05:00 | -5 | UTC-5 (CDT) | Yes |
| Asia/Beijing | 18:00 | +8 | UTC+8 (CST) | N/A not using DST |
| Australia/Sydney | 20:00 | +10 | UTC+10 (AEST) | No |
Storage in ShareAspace
In the ShareAspace persistent storage, the date and time is always stored as UTC time according to the ISO-8601 date and time format: "YYYY-MM-DDThh:mm:ss[Z|(+|-)hh:mm]"
All dates and time above will be stored as:
2018-02-19T17:30Z
which means UTC time.
REST API calls will understand the same format including time offset indications compared to the UTC time.
Examples
All dates and time above can be set via the REST API as:
| Time zone | Time |
|---|---|
| Europe/London | 2018-02-19T17:30:00+00:00 |
| Europe/Paris | 2018-02-19T18:30:00+01:00 |
| Europe/Helsinki | 2018-02-19T19:30:00+02:00 |
| America/New-York | 2018-02-19T12:30:00-05:00 |
| America/Mexico City | 2018-02-19T11:30:00-06:00 |
| Asia/Beijing | 2018-02-20T01:30:00+08:00 |
| Australia/Sydney | 2018-02-20T04:30:00+11:00 |
These are all the same UTC date and time.