DtObj B4X (B4A / B4J) Reference Documentation

ChilkatDtObj

Current Version: 11.6.0

Chilkat.DtObj

Represent a date/time as simple editable fields.

Chilkat.DtObj is a lightweight date/time value object used by Chilkat methods that need to pass or return individual date and time fields. It stores values such as year, month, day, hour, minute, and second, along with a flag indicating whether the value represents UTC or local time. It also provides a compact serialization format for saving and restoring the date/time value.

Simple date fields

Store and edit the year, month, day, hour, minute, and second as individual properties.

UTC or local time

Use the UTC flag to indicate whether the stored fields represent UTC or local time.

Struct tm compatibility

Use alternate month and year properties when working with struct tm-style date/time conventions.

Serialize and restore

Save and restore the object using Chilkat's compact internal serialized date/time representation.

Used by other classes

Pass DtObj values to Chilkat methods that require explicit date/time fields or return date/time information.

Small and focused

Use this class as a simple container rather than a full date/time calculation or timezone-conversion engine.

Common pattern: Create or receive a DtObj, set or read the individual date/time fields, check whether the value is UTC or local time, and pass the object to another Chilkat method. Use serialization only when the date/time value needs to be saved and restored in Chilkat's compact internal format.

Declare / Initialize / Dispose

Sub Process_Globals
    Private obj As ChilkatDtObj
End Sub

' Call Initialize before first use -- typically in AppStart (B4J)
' or Activity_Create (B4A):
obj.Initialize                ' classes without events
obj.Initialize("evt")        ' classes with events: "evt" becomes the
                              ' prefix of event Subs such as evt_PercentDone
Initialize  /  Initialize (EventName As String)

Creates the underlying native Chilkat object. Classes that support events take an EventName argument: it becomes the prefix of the event Subs (<EventName>_AbortCheck, <EventName>_PercentDone, <EventName>_ProgressInfo); classes without events take no arguments. The native Chilkat library loads automatically on the first Initialize — from the APK on Android, or extracted from ChilkatB4J.jar on Windows/Linux/macOS.

IsInitialized As Boolean

True if Initialize has been called and the native object exists.

Dispose

Explicitly frees the underlying native object. Calling Dispose is optional — every ChilkatDtObj is also freed automatically when garbage-collected — but is recommended for long-lived objects holding sockets, sessions, or large buffers. A disposed object can be re-Initialized.

Properties

Day
' read/write
Day As Int

The day of the month. The valid values for this member are 1 through 31.

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DebugLogFilePath
' read/write
DebugLogFilePath As String

If set to a file path, this property logs the LastErrorText of each Chilkat method or property call to the specified file. This logging helps identify the context and history of Chilkat calls leading up to any crash or hang, aiding in debugging.

Enabling the VerboseLogging property provides more detailed information. This property is mainly used for debugging rare instances where a Chilkat method call causes a hang or crash, which should generally not happen.

Possible causes of hangs include:

  • A timeout property set to 0, indicating an infinite timeout.
  • A hang occurring within an event callback in the application code.
  • An internal bug in the Chilkat code causing the hang.

More Information and Examples
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Hour
' read/write
Hour As Int

The hour. The valid values for this member are 0 through 23.

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LastErrorHtml
' read-only
LastErrorHtml As String

Provides HTML-formatted information about the last called method or property. If a method call fails or behaves unexpectedly, check this property for details. Note that information is available regardless of the method call's success.

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LastErrorText
' read-only
LastErrorText As String

Provides plain text information about the last called method or property. If a method call fails or behaves unexpectedly, check this property for details. Note that information is available regardless of the method call's success.

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LastErrorXml
' read-only
LastErrorXml As String

Provides XML-formatted information about the last called method or property. If a method call fails or behaves unexpectedly, check this property for details. Note that information is available regardless of the method call's success.

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LastMethodSuccess
' read/write
LastMethodSuccess As Boolean

Indicates the success or failure of the most recent method call: True means success, False means failure. This property remains unchanged by property setters or getters. This method is present to address challenges in checking for null or Nothing returns in certain programming languages. Note: This property does not apply to methods that return integer values or to boolean-returning methods where the boolean does not indicate success or failure.

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Minute
' read/write
Minute As Int

The minute. The valid values for this member are 0 through 59.

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Month
' read/write
Month As Int

The month. The valid values for this member are 1 through 12 where 1 = January and 12 = December.

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Second
' read/write
Second As Int

The second. The valid values for this member are 0 through 59.

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StructTmMonth
' read/write
StructTmMonth As Int

The month. The valid values for this member are 0 through 11 where 0 = January and 11 = December.

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StructTmYear
' read/write
StructTmYear As Int

The year represented as the number of years since 1900.

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Utc
' read/write
Utc As Boolean

True if this is a UTC time, otherwise False if this is a local time.

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VerboseLogging
' read/write
VerboseLogging As Boolean

If set to True, then the contents of LastErrorText (or LastErrorXml, or LastErrorHtml) may contain more verbose information. The default value is False. Verbose logging should only be used for debugging. The potentially large quantity of logged information may adversely affect peformance.

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Version
' read-only
Version As String

Version of the component/library, such as "10.1.0"

More Information and Examples
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Year
' read/write
Year As Int

The year, such as 2012.

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Methods

DeSerialize
DeSerialize (serializedDtObj As String)

Loads the date/time with a string having the format as produced by the Serialize method, which is a string of SPACE separated integers containing (in this order) year, month, day, hour, minutes, seconds, and a UTC flag having the value of 1/0.

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Serialize
Serialize As String

Serializes the date/time to a us-ascii string that can be imported at a later time via the DeSerialize method. The format of the string returned by this method is not intended to match any published standard. It is formatted to a string with SPACE separated integers containing (in this order) year, month, day, hour, minutes, seconds, and a UTC flag having the value of 1/0.

Returns Null on failure

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