Setting Time Zone Per Record - ruby-on-rails

Question

Any idea how I can use the time zone generated from a location to create a new record with that respective zipcode?
I have created a service object to help pull the zipcode information.
I am able to use this info in the terminal to set the zip code but it doesn't work when I try a before_save or before_create hook.
class ServiceObject
include ActiveModel::Model
def self.get_timezone_name(location)
z = GoogleTimeZone.fetch(location.latitude, location.longitude)
ActiveSupport::TimeZone.find_tzinfo(z.time_zone_id)
end
end
class Location < ActiveRecord::Base
has_many :events
#name - String
#start_time - DateTime
#end_time - DateTime
end
class Event < ActiveRecord::Base
belongs_to :location
geocoded_by :full_address
before_create :zoned
private
def zoned
Time.zone = ServiceObject.get_time_zone(self.location)
end
end
I also tried to use the date time attribute gem to set an event's time zone. Again this works in the console but not with a call back. Records are not created via a browser but rather in the console.

Answer 1

Here is a blog post I wrote on timezones with rails: http://jessehouse.com/blog/2013/11/15/working-with-timezones-and-ruby-on-rails/
There are two different ways to accomplish what you want:
Time.use_zone block when saving data
use in_time_zone when displaying data
I recommend you save the timezone on your location, update it if the long/lat changes; it looks like your Event and Location example above is flipped? Event should have a start and end, not location?
class Location
has_many :events
geocoded_by :full_address
before_save :set_time_zone
private
def set_time_zone
if new_record? || latitude_changed? || longitude_changed?
self.time_zone = ServiceObject.get_time_zone(self)
end
end
end
class Event
belongs_to :location
end
then in the console or controller code
location = Location.last
Time.use_zone(location.time_zone) do
location.events << Event.new({ ... })
end