The following method can be used to calculate the difference (in days, hours, minutes, and seconds) between two ISO DATE formatted strings:

// Description: // Calculates the difference between two ISO DATE timestamps values // (2010-11-22T15:55:22) and returns human readable string value of // elapse time in "Days, Hours, Minutes, Seconds" // // Parameters: // $1 = string; start time = ISO DATE timestamp (now if empty string is passed) // $2 = string; end time = ISO DATE timestamp (now if empty string is passed) // // Return Value: // $0 = string; time difference in "Days, Hours, Minutes, Seconds" // C_TEXT($0) If (Count parameters=2) C_TEXT($1;$sts) // start timestamp C_TEXT($2;$ets) // end time stamp If ((Position("z";$1)=0) & (Position("z";$2)=0)) // "z" is not found in $1 or $2 If($1="") // start time is empty - so use now $sts:=String(Current date;ISO Date;Current time) Else // start time is not empty - so confirm the format // for now just assign it $sts:=String(Date($1);ISO Date;Time($1)) End if If ($2="") // end time is empty - so use now $ets:=String(Current date;ISO Date;Current time) Else // start time is not empty - so confirm the format // for now just assign it $ets:=String(Date($2);ISO Date;Time($2)) End if C_LONGINT($days_l) C_TIME($hms_t) If ($ets>$sts) $days_l:=Date($ets)-Date($sts) $hms_t:=Time($ets)-Time($sts) Else $days_l:=Date($sts)-Date($ets) $hms_t:=Time($sts)-Time($ets) End if If ($hms_t<?00:00:00?) // time is negative so correct the days $days_l:=$days_l-1 // subtract 1 day from days $hms_t:=$hms_t+?24:00:00? // add 24 hours to time End if If ($days_l=0) // zero days $0:=String($hms_t;Hour Min Sec) Else // not zero days $0:=String($days_l;"###,##0 days ")+String($hms_t;Hour Min Sec) End if Else // "z" is found in $1 or $2 // this method does not accept ISO DATE GMT - only ISO DATE $0:="This method requires ISO DATE format parameters only" End if Else // incorrect parameters // this method requires 2 parameters (check the header) $0:="This method requires 2 parameters" End if

If the method above is saved as UTIL_CalcTimeOffset, it can be used in the following manner:

C_TEXT($test) $test:=UTIL_CalcTimeOffset ("2010-11-22T22:45:45";"2010-11-23T01:56:32") // 3 hours, 10 minutes and 47 seconds C_TEXT($test) $test:=UTIL_CalcTimeOffset ("2010-11-23T01:56:32";"2010-11-22T22:45:45") // 3 hours, 10 minutes and 47 seconds C_TEXT($test) $test:=UTIL_CalcTimeOffset ("2002-04-16T10:00:00";"2010-11-23T08:25:45") // 3142 days, 22 hours, 25 minutes and 45 seconds C_TEXT($test) $test:=UTIL_CalcTimeOffset ("2010-11-23T08:25:45";"2002-04-16T10:00:00") // 3142 days, 22 hours, 25 minutes and 45 seconds C_TEXT($test) $test:=UTIL_CalcTimeOffset ("2010-11-23T22:45:45";"2010-11-23T01:56:32") // 20 hours 49 minutes 13 seconds C_TEXT($test) $test:=UTIL_CalcTimeOffset ("2010-11-23T01:56:32";"2010-11-23T22:45:45") // 20 hours 49 minutes 13 seconds