Putting dates in XML sets them back by 6 hours?

  • 3 February 2017
  • 4 replies
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Badge +5

I have a pair of lists, ParentList and ChildList.  ParentList uses a Nintex form with a repeating section to track some dates.  There is a workflow on ParentList that parses the XML from the repeating section and turns each line of the repeating section into an item in ChildList.  ChildList has a workflow that grabs the XML from ParentList, takes the current date, updates an XML node called ClosureDate, and sticks the updated XML back in ParentList.  (It is set up like this, with two lists, so that users without permissions on ParentList can update the ClosureDate using ChildList.)

Here's the weird thing: every time a Date/Time variable gets passed from ParentList to ChildList, it seems to lose six hours.  So, for example, a "blank" date from the repeating section is saved as "01/01/1900 00:00:00" in ParentList, but when it is parsed out into ChildList it shows up as "12/31/1899 6:00:00 PM".  And when a closure date of 2/3/2017 is added to ParentList, it shows up back in ChildList as "2/2/2017 6:00:00 PM".

The variable is a Date and Time variable in both the form and the workflow.  We are in Central Standard Time.

Any ideas why this is happening? 


4 replies

Userlevel 3
Badge +9

Sounds like the time is getting converted to UTC time, which from your location is 6 hours back.  You may need to convert it to local time before updating it in your lists. 

Badge +5

I believe you're right.  Is there a "proper" way to convert it to local time?  Right now I'm just adding six hours to it with a Calculate Date action, but some of our users are in different time zones...

Userlevel 6
Badge +15

Hey ‌ - did you ever get this one figured out?

Badge +5

Yes, more or less--using a Calculate Date action to set the date 6 hours ahead fixed the symptom, so yes.  The requirements for this particular workflow have changed since I asked this question, though, so we're using a different setup now (with a single list rather than two lists) and this issue doesn't apply to the new solution.

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