Subj : Latest message timestamps
To   : Nightfox
From : Digital Man
Date : Mon Dec 07 2009 09:57 pm

  Re: Latest message timestamps
  By: Nightfox to All on Mon Dec 07 2009 04:29 pm

 > Hi all -
 >
 > I've been updating the command shell on my BBS (written in JavaScript) so
 > that in the message sub-board listings (i.e., when the user wants to jump
 > to a new sub-board), it will display the date & time of the newest message
 > along with the sub-board name and number of messages for each sub-board.
 > However, I've noticed something that may complicate that a bit - The last
 > message posted in a sub-board might not necessarily be the newest message,
 > according to its timestamp.  In QWK-networked sub-boards, I'd guess that
 > this may be due to a delayed posting or because of QWK accounts being in
 > different time zones.
 >
 > In my command shell, I could get the dates & times for all the messages in
 > a sub-board, sort them, and choose the latest date & time that way, but
 > that can be slow.  Alternatively, I can simply get the date & time of the
 > last message posted in the sub-board.  Is there a better way to get the
 > latest date & time of a message that is still fast?

Use the "when_imported_time" of the last message in the sub-board. That should
always be the newest date/time.

 > As far as the message timestamps, is it true that all messages (even in
 > QWK-networked sub-boards) have a timestamp in the local time zone of the
 > originating BBS?

The times are stored in UTC. If you wish to know the time zone of when a
message was written, check the "when_written_zone" header property value. The
"when_written_time" is stored in UTC, but represents the local time in the time
zone where the message was written (not necessarily the local time zone).

                                            digital man

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