NAME
DBIx::Class::InflateColumn::DateTime::WithTimeZone - Store time zones
with DateTimes in database
SYNOPSIS
Set up table with separate column to store time zone, and set that
column as the timezone_source column for the datetime column.
package Event;
use base 'DBIx::Class::Core';
__PACKAGE__->load_components(qw/InflateColumn::DateTime::WithTimeZone/);
__PACKAGE_->add_columns(
event_time => { data_type => 'timestamp', timezone_source => 'event_tz' },
event_tz => { data_type => 'varchar', size => 38 },
);
Store any DateTime into the database
$dt = DateTime->new( year => 2015, month => 6, day => 8, hour => 9, minute => 10
time_zone => 'America/Chicago' );
$row = $schema->resultset('Event')->create( { event_time => $dt } );
In the database, event_time is now set to the UTC time corresponding to
the original time (2015-06-08T14:10:00), and event_tz is set to
'America/Chicago'.
When retrieved from the database, event_time will be returned as an
identical DateTime object, with the same time zone as the original
DateTime
$row = $schema->resultset('Event')->first;
$event_time = $row->event_time;
say $event_time . ''; # 2015-06-08T09:10:00
say $event_time->time_zone->name; # America/Chicago
DESCRIPTION
This component preserves the time zone of DateTime objects when storing
and retrieving through DBIx::Class.
It uses InflateColumn::DateTime to do the basic inflation and
deflation. The time zone is saved into an additional database column,
and automatically applied to the DateTime after inflation.
UTC-only
The datetime is always converted to UTC before storage in the database.
This ensures that the real time is preserved, no matter how the clock
time is affected by the time zone.
This avoids the problems caused by Daylight Saving Time. If the
datetime were stored in any time zone that has Daylight Saving Time,
then any datetime that occurs during the transition out of Daylight
Saving Time (when the clock goes back one hour) will be ambiguous.
DateTime handles this by always using the latest real time for the
given clock time (see DateTime#Ambiguous-Local-Times). In this case,
any DateTime from the earlier pass through the overlapped times will be
converted to the later time when it is read, effectively adding the DST
offset to the time.
USAGE NOTES
Interaction with InflateColumn::DateTime
Side effects on DateTime object
Currently, if the timezone attribute is set on
InflateColumn::DateTime, then the time zone on a DateTime object used
to set the column may have its time zone changed to that of the
timezone attribute. The time zone change only happens if the DateTime
object is deflated for storage. See
By default, this component overrides this IC::DT behavior. The
DateTime object used to set the column will not have its time zone
changed.
If you need this side effect, set the DBIC_IC_DT_WTZ_MODIFY_TZ
environment variable, and the IC::DT behavior will be followed: any
DateTime used to set the column value will have its time zone set to
UTC if it has been deflated for storage in the database.
timezone
The timezone attribute is defaulted to UTC. If a non-UTC timezone is
specified, an exception will be thrown, since non-UTC time zones can
not guarantee that the retrieved DateTime matches the saved DateTime.
locale
The locale attribute is not affected by this component, so it should
work as documented in InflateColumn::DateTime.
Nullable columns
If the datetime column is nullable, the timezone_source column must
also be nullable. If it is not, a exception will be thrown when the
schema is loaded.
Missing timezone column
If a datetime column with a timezone_source is included in a ResultSet,
the corresponding timezone_source column must also be included.
If the timezone_source column is missing, a runtime exception will be
thrown when the datetime column is accessed.
Timezone column size
The time zone column must be long enough to store the longest zoneinfo
name. Currently, that's 38 characters, but I can't find any guarantee
that will not change.
This component does not yet validate the timezone column data type or
size. This may result in
Implementation Details
This component uses internal methods and data from
DBIx::Class::InflateColumn::DateTime:
_ic_dt_method
Uses the $info->{_ic_dt_method} value set by InflateColumn::DateTime to
determine the column datatype, rather than duplicating the detection
code.
__dbic_colname
Uses the $info->{__dbic_colname} value set by InflateColumn::DateTime
to provide the column name in error messages.
register_columns
Wraps register_columns to validate the column attributes
_post_inflate_datetime
Sets time zone from the timezone_source column DateTime inflation
_pre_deflate_datetime
Sets timezone_source column to time zone name before DateTime deflation
TODO
* Expand the tests to validate against databases other than SQLite
* Investigate and document interaction with locale
* Add validation of the data_type and size of the timezone_source
column
AUTHOR
Noel Maddy <zhtwnpanta@gmail.com>
COPYRIGHT
Copyright 2015- Noel Maddy
LICENSE
This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
under the same terms as Perl itself.
SEE ALSO
DBIx::Class::InflateColumn::DateTime, DBIx::Class::InflateColumn,
DateTime