Should FormatDateTime default formatting use system locale settings?

[willbprog9933]

Greetings everyone,

By default, if I do

Code: Pascal  [Select][+][-]

1. Label1.Caption := FormatDateTime('', Now());

I get: 20-08-20 11:53:32 in my label, which appears to be the German area(?) formatting.  My Linux system is using en_us locale, so the output should be something like 08-20-2020 11:53:32.  Shouldn't the default formatting use the system's locale?

This isn't a huge issue for me, because I just use the desired format string, but it seems weird that the default would not match my system locale.

Thanks! 

[winni]

Hi!

I noticed the same.

But this is not  german - this is a weird mix.

German would be: 20.08.2020

And why does FormatDateTime use per default the shortdate?
My locale wants the longdate.

Something went wrong in Laz 2.10

Winni

[willbprog9933]

But this is not  german - this is a weird mix.

German would be: 20.08.2020

Sorry, wasn't sure about the exact location of that format.

Even if I use 'f' as the format literal, it does shortdate and also uses that same non-en_us format.

Thanks! 

[Sieben]

Came across this issue a few days ago - try adding clocale to your uses clause.

[willbprog9933]

Came across this issue a few days ago - try adding clocale to your uses clause.

Hello Sieben!

This works great, thank you! :-)

It would be nice to mention this in the Wiki or the FormatDateTime reference page.  Guess I could file a bug report...

Thanks again! 

[winni]

Hi Sieben!

Never would have come to this idea! Thanx!

Now it works as it should. Like in Laz 2.08

And documented in Nowhere Land?

Winni

[Sieben]

Picked it up somewhere, can't really remember now. But thank you as well - finally got me from lurking to registering. By the way - do we have to fill these captchas all the time now...?

[winni]

By the way - do we have to fill these captchas all the time now...?

Hi!

No - only at registration.

If you are registered name and pass do it.

Winni

[winni]

Guess I could file a bug report...

Hi!

Please file a  bugreport. The connection to clocale is so obscure that their should be a solution.
At least a clear documentation.

Winni

[TRon]

Picked it up somewhere, can't really remember now. But thank you as well - finally got me from lurking to registering. By the way - do we have to fill these captchas all the time now...?

They will disappear after a while. I do not know the exact criteria but wouldn't be surprised if it has anything to do with the number of posts you've made. Just keep it up and you'll (eventually) end up a happy customer 

[willbprog9933]

Please file a  bugreport. The connection to clocale is so obscure that their should be a solution.
At least a clear documentation.

Hi again,

I have filed the report here.

Thanks! 

[TRon]

@winni,

It is mentioned (see here https://www.freepascal.org/docs-html/rtl/clocale/index.html) but it is rather difficult to eventually end up there, e.g the locale related routines should point to it more obviously imho.

Thereby, it does not seem to mention MacOS/IOS specifics, see introduction here https://wiki.freepascal.org/FPC_New_Features_3.0.0#New_iosxlocale_unit

@willbprog9933
It is mentioned in the wiki under multiplatform programming. It is not a bug (as you filed it right now), rather a documentation related issue.

[Sieben]

@TRon - Thanks. I was afraid it would be sth like that, but ok. I'll try.

[winni]

@Tron

Thanx.

* The Mac users use  iosxlocale
* The Unix/Linux users use clocale

And where do the Windows users get the information? The documentation is quiete unclear.

And Oracle just broke the compatibility to Linux kernel 5.18 for VirtualBox - so I have no Windows at hand.

Anyway: There should be a  clear documentation for this for the DateTime routines. And not only for the locale stuff.

Winni

[TRon]

* The Mac users use  iosxlocale

or clocale... yes, confusing but it seems they are or can use both (just not at the same time, or last one included overwrites).

And where do the Windows users get the information? The documentation is quiete unclear.

I came across a wiki pages (I forgot to bookmark/take note of it) when Isearched for clocale related information, and that page mentioned that Wndows obtains these values from the OS by default. It seems only non windows platforms need to fall-back to other OS provided API's in order to be able to obtain these values accurately.

And Oracle just broke the compatibility to Linux kernel 5.18 for VirtualBox - so I have no Windows at hand.

... what else is new ... as they seem to be doing that with every new release

Anyway: There should be a  clear documentation for this for the DateTime routines. And not only for the locale stuff.

I agree.

It would imho be an idea to at least add it here (https://www.freepascal.org/docs-html/rtl/sysutils/datetimeroutines.html) and here (https://www.freepascal.org/docs-html/rtl/dateutils/index.html) as a bare minimum.

edit: on the other hand, I do not always seem to grasp which part(s) of the (online) documentation is platform specific and what not, and for/on which platform it was constructed 

edit2: Ah, thanks to Michael. It was actually here (https://www.freepascal.org/docs-html/current/rtl/sysutils/localization.html) that I've read it