Understanding Time Zone Display Settings

Although times are always stored in the base time zone, you can choose whether a page displays a time in the base time or in another time zone.

Time zone display and processing functions operate only on time or datetime fields, not on date fields. This is because all time zone processing requires the knowledge of the time component of the field, which is not provided in date fields. Even if some databases store PeopleSoft date fields internally as datetime fields, the PeopleSoft system does not use the time component of these fields.

Two settings work together to control the time display on pages in the PeopleSoft Pure Internet Architecture:

  • Record field properties.

    Choose whether the time display is based on the base time zone or on another time zone. If you base the display on another time zone, you can specify a time zone control field, which determines the time zone.

  • Page field properties.

    Choose whether to automatically include the time zone abbreviation in a field that displays time or datetime values.

Use these guidelines to help decide how to implement time zone displays:

  • If the record field properties option specifies that time appears in the base time zone, setting the page field properties to show the time zone helps users interpret the time shown on the page.

  • If the record field properties option specifies that the time zone of a particular time or datetime field is determined by the time zone control field, then put that control field directly on the page, to enable the user to manually select the time zone for a field.

  • If you put the time zone control field on the page where users are permitted to enter a time zone, disable the page field properties option that includes the time zone abbreviation in the time field.

    It is redundant to show the time zone in both places.

  • If you do not permit users to enter a time zone manually, for example, if you use the %ClientTimeZone or %BaseTimeZone system variables to set the time zone, then display the time zone either by including the control field on the page or by setting the page field properties appropriately—not both.

In Application Designer, users can display time values in their local time zones or in the system’s base time zone, regardless of how the record field properties and page field properties are set. By default, all Application Designer time and datetime fields appear in the base time zone, but each user can override this option by selecting View, and then Time Display, and then Local Time or View, and then Time Display, and then Database Time.