LDAPviewer - Generalized Time Editor

The Generalized Time Editor is invoked when any editable attribute (in either the HTML or the Table Editor) whose syntax is Generalized Time (OID 1.3.6.1.4.1.1466.115.121.1.24) is double clicked. The Generalized Time Editor is designed to simplify the task of creating a Date and Time attribute value as shown:

When initially loaded the current values of the attribute are displayed in the various date and time elements.

Note: While it is possible to set the date and time in any order following the order in window - top row, left to right, bottom row, left to right - ensures that appropriate limits (days in the month, including leap years) are updated to prevent invalid dates from being entered.

Time and Data Elements

Year Enter any valid 4 digit year in the range 1582 (year the Gregorian Calendar was introduced) to 9999. Validation of the year only ocurs when the OK Button is clicked.

Month Select the month from the drop-down menu.

Day Select the day from the drop-down menu. The days of the month are limited to those valid (including leap years) for the month selected and year entered.

Hour Select the hour (range 0 to 23) from the drop-down menu.

Minute Select the minutes (range 0 to 59) from the drop-down menu. While the minute value is optional in Generalized Time the editor always supplies a minute value. Setting to 0 will generate a value of 00 in the resulting attribute.

Second Select the seconds (range 0 to 59) from the drop-down menu. While the second value is optional in Generalized Time the editor always supplies a second value. Setting to 0 will generate a value of 00 in the resulting attribute.

Millisecond Select the milliseconds (range 0 to 999) from the drop-down menu. The milliscond value is optional in Generalized Time and if set to 0 the editor will omit the value from the final attrbute.

Now Button will set the values of the various elements to that of the computer's current date and time depending on the value of the UCT Check Box. If the UCT check box is selected this value will be the Universal Coordinated Time (UCT, sometimes still known as GMT, or Zulu time in military jargon) value which depending on the local time zone setting may vary considerably from the time shown in the local computer's clock (frequently referred to as the Wall Clock time). If the UCT check Box is not selected this will show the same time as the computer's clock based on its current time zone setting.

UCT Check Box. If the check box is selected this indicates the time shown represents Universal Coordinated Time (UCT). In this case a Z (indicating Zulu time - military jargon for UCT or GMT) will be appended to the Generalized Time value when the OK Button is clicked.

If unchecked this indicates the time represents local, to this computer, time. In this case Z will NOT be appended to the Generalized Time value when the OK Button is clicked. If Entries containing Generalized Time attributes are accessed from computers in different time zones and UCT is unchecked then the time shown in such an attribute may, or may not, bear any relationship to local time. It is impossible to tell from the attribute value. This may, or may not, be important for the LDAP application.

For interest, all LDAP time stamped operational attributes use UCT Generalized Time(Z is present).

Note If the Now Button is clicked and the value of UCT is changed then clicking Now again will update the date and time to refect the current setting of UCT.

All Button

OK Button

Creates a Generalized Time attribute from the current date and time elements and updates the attribute value. If the Year is not valid then a message similar to that show is displayed and the OK operation is terminated.

Cancel Button

Unconditionally closes the editor window without saving any user changes. The attribute field is unchanged.

Help Button

Displays this page.

Generalized Time Syntax Format Supported: The Generalized Time syntax used by LDAP is summarized below:

GeneralizedTime format
  Local or UCT variant YYYYMMDDHH[mm][SS][.fff][Z]
  Time difference variant YYYYMMDDHH[mm][SS][.fff]+/-HHmm
  (.fff is fractional seconds up to 3 decimal places)
  Item in [] are optional.

Generalized Time editor will only generate a result in the Local or UCT variant above, with only the fractional seconds [.fff] and UCT indicator [Z] optional as descrbed below. Specifically, the optional minutes field [mm] will always be present (set to 00 if 0 selected), the optional seconds field [SS] will always be present (set to 00 if 0 selected). If fractional seconds is zero then this field will be omitted otherwise it will be included. Using the same notation as above the Generalize Time format generated by the editor may be expressed as:

GeneralizedTime format
  Local or UCT variant YYYYMMDDHHmmSS[.fff][Z]
  (.fff is fractional seconds up to 3 decimal places)
  Item in [] are optional.

Note: The Generlaized Time editor will always format the optional fractional seconds if present. Some LDAP servers do not like this format, in which case the user should set the Factional value to 0 which will eliminate it.