Syncplify.me Server v8

Appearance

ToDate() ​

ts
function ToDate(timeValue: Date | TimeStamp | number): Date;

Converts a timestamp into a native JavaScript Date object, so you can use all the standard JavaScript date and time methods on it.

This is what you reach for when a SyncJS function hands you a TimeStamp. Every DirListItem carries one, from StatFileSystemObject, from ListDir and ListDirR, from a VFS Stat().Info() or ReadDir().Infos(), and from a remote client listing. A TimeStamp is a value from the host process, not a JavaScript Date: it has no getTime() and no toISOString() until you convert it.

Parameters ​

NameTypeDescription
timeValueDate, TimeStamp or numberWhat to convert. See the accepted values below.

Accepted values ​

You passResult
A JavaScript DateAn equivalent Date
A TimeStamp from a listing, a stat, or any VFS or remote client responseA Date for that moment
A numberRead as epoch milliseconds
A stringParsed as RFC 3339, or YYYY-MM-DD HH:mm:ss, or YYYY-MM-DD

Returns ​

A native JavaScript Date representing the same point in time as the input.

A value that cannot be converted raises an error your script can catch. undefined and null cannot be converted either, so guard a value you are not sure about.

Example ​

ts
var info = StatFileSystemObject("/home/myself/Documents/brochure.pdf");
if (info.Name !== "") {
  var ts = ToDate(info.TimeStamp);
  // Use ts as any other native JavaScript Date object
  Log(ts.toISOString());
  Log("age in days: " + Math.floor((Date.now() - ts.getTime()) / 86400000));
}

Example: handling an uncertain value ​

ts
try {
  var when = ToDate(maybeATimestamp);
  Log(when.toISOString());
} catch (e) {
  Log.Warn("not a timestamp: " + e);
}

IMPORTANT

Earlier builds of the SyncJS engine asserted a bare time.Time here. A TimeStamp read from a struct field reaches the script as a pointer, so the assertion missed the common case and ToDate(info.TimeStamp), exactly as shown above, stopped the script with an error that no try/catch could see. It is fixed: the conversion accepts every value in the table above, and an unconvertible one raises a catchable error instead of tearing the execution down.

See also ​