Need assistance regarding NSTimeInterval and timezone [duplicate] - ios

Question

This question already has an answer here:
NSDateFormatter and Time Zone issue?
(1 answer)
Closed 8 years ago.
-(NSTimeInterval)convertStringToDate:(NSString *) date {
NSString *dateString = date;
NSLog(#"dateString = %#", dateString);
NSDateFormatter *dateFormatter = [[NSDateFormatter alloc] init];
[dateFormatter setDateFormat:#"dd-MM-yyyy hh:mm a"];
[dateFormatter setLocale:[NSLocale currentLocale]];
NSDate *date1 = [[NSDate alloc] init];
date1 = [dateFormatter dateFromString:dateString];
NSLog(#"dateFromString = %#", date1);
NSString *displayDate = [dateFormatter stringFromDate:date1];
NSLog(#"displayDate = %#", displayDate);
return [date1 timeIntervalSince1970];
}
Why I am getting NSTimeInterval with wrong timezone?

Answer 1

You need to read up on the internal representation of NSDates. An NSDate is saved as the number seconds since midnight on 1 Jan, 1984 GMT (The Mac OS X "epoch date") . It represents an instant in time anywhere on the earth, but using a date in GMT as it's "zero date". To display it, you need to convert it to your local time zone.
NSDate has a couple of methods to convert a date to a number: timeIntervalSince1970, which converts an NSDate to the internet standard, which is the number of seconds since Midnight 1 Jan 1970 (The UNIX "epoch date"), and timeIntervalSinceReferenceDate, which converts to the number seconds since the Mac Epoch date.
If you display a date in NSLog:
NSLog(#"Date = %#", someNSDate);
It will be displayed in GMT.

Answer 2

Honestly, it's unclear what you're asking and my best guess is that you just don't understand the classes at play. I've annotated your code in the hope of aiding your comprehension.
Key point: NSDate does not have a time zone. It's an opaque time stamp.
-(NSTimeInterval)convertStringToDate:(NSString *) date {
// log the input string
NSString *dateString = date;
NSLog(#"dateString = %#", dateString);
// create an object that can apply a locale and a time zone in order to
// convert an NSDate to an NSString and vice versa
NSDateFormatter *dateFormatter = [[NSDateFormatter alloc] init];
[dateFormatter setDateFormat:#"dd-MM-yyyy hh:mm a"];
[dateFormatter setLocale:[NSLocale currentLocale]];
// get a date that represents exactly now, for no reason as it's about
// to be thrown away
NSDate *date1 = [[NSDate alloc] init];
// convert to the NSDate that represents the given string.
date1 = [dateFormatter dateFromString:dateString];
// log the converted date. BECAUSE NSDATE DOES NOT HAVE A TIME ZONE,
// it will arbitrarily be displayed in UTC. Because it has to be
// displayed in something
NSLog(#"dateFromString = %#", date1);
// convert date1 back into a printable date; this will again apply
// a time zone and locale
NSString *displayDate = [dateFormatter stringFromDate:date1];
NSLog(#"displayDate = %#", displayDate);
// query the date for "The interval between the date object and
// January 1, 1970 at 12:00 a.m. GMT."; return that
return [date1 timeIntervalSince1970];
}