How to specify a custom time zone

You can configure a MIDAS booking system to operate in a particular time zone via MIDAS Admin Options → Manage MIDAS → Appearance → Date/Time Settings → Timezone.

As of MIDAS v4.08, 275 world time zones are selectable from a drop down list on this screen.

In addition, starting with MIDAS v4.08 it's also possible to define your own custom time zone, by selecting the "Custom..." option at the bottom of the drop-down list of time zones.

This advanced article outlines how to define a custom time zone, which for most users will never be required.

A custom time zone string in MIDAS v4.08 or later should take the following format:

stdoffset[dst[offset][,start[/time],end[/time]]]

where...

std, dst are three or more letters that are the designation for the standard (std) or daylight savings (dst) time zone. Only std is required. If dst is omitted, daylight savings (summer) time doesn't apply in this locale. Upper and lowercase letters are allowed. Any characters except for a leading colon (:), digits, comma (,), minus (-), plus (+), and ASCII NUL (\0) are also allowed.

offset indicates the value that must be added to the local time to arrive at Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). The offset has the form:

hh[:mm[:ss]]

The minutes (mm) and seconds (ss) are optional. The hour (hh) is required, and may be a single digit.

The offset following std is required. If no offset follows dst, daylight savings time is assumed to be one hour ahead of standard time.

The hour may be between 0 and 24, and minutes/seconds (if specified) between 0 and 59. If preceded by a "-", the time zone is east of the Prime Meridian; otherwise it's west (which may be indicated by an optional preceding "+").

If the optional start/end parameters are included, this indicates when to change to and back from daylight savings time. These parameters have the following form:

date/time,date/time

... where the first date describes when the change from standard to dst occurs, and the second date describes when dst changes back to standard time. Each time field describes when, in current local time, the change to the other time is made.

The format of date may be one of the following:

Jn
The Julian day n (1 <= n <= 365). Leap days aren't counted. That is, in all years - including leap years - February 28 is day 59 and March 1 is day 60. It's impossible to refer explicitly to the occasional February 29.

n
The zero-based Julian day (0 <= n <= 365). Leap years are counted, and it is possible to refer to February 29.

Mm.n.d
The dth day (0 <= d <= 6) of week n of month m of the year (1 <= n <= 5, 1 <= m <= 12, where week 5 means "the last d day in month m", which may occur in the fourth or fifth week). Week 1 is the first week in which the dth day occurs. Day zero is Sunday.

The time has the same format as offset, except that no leading sign ("+" or "-") is allowed. The default, if time is omitted, is 02:00:00.

EST5EDT

• Eastern Standard Time is 5 hours earlier than Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). Standard time and daylight saving time both apply to this locale.
• By default, Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) is one hour ahead of standard time (that is, EDT4).
• Since it isn't specified, daylight saving time starts on the second Sunday of April at 2:00 A.M., and ends on the last Sunday of October at 2:00 A.M. (Note: On some servers with older timezone definitions, DST may instead start on the first Sunday of April)

EST5EDT4,M4.1.0/02:00:00,M10.5.0/02:00:00

• Eastern Standard Time is 5 hours earlier than Coordinated Universal Time (UTC).
• Standard time and daylight saving time both apply to this locale.
• Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) is one hour ahead of standard time.
• Daylight saving time starts on the first (1) Sunday (0) of April (4) at 2:00 A.M., and ends on the last (5) Sunday (0) of October (10) at 2:00 A.M.

PST8PDT

• Pacific Standard Time is 8 hours earlier than Coordinated Universal Time (UTC).
• Standard time and daylight saving time both apply to this locale.
• By default, Pacific Daylight Time is one hour ahead of standard time (that is, PDT7).
• Since it isn't specified, daylight saving time starts on the second Sunday of April at 2:00 A.M., and ends on the last Sunday of October at 2:00 A.M. (Note: On some servers with older timezone definitions, DST may instead start on the first Sunday of April)

NST3:30NDT1:30

• Newfoundland Standard Time is 3 and 1/2 hours earlier than Coordinated Universal Time (UTC).
• Standard time and daylight saving time both apply to this locale.
• Newfoundland Daylight Savings Time is 1 and 1/2 hours earlier than Coordinated Universal Time (UTC).

JST-9

• Japanese Standard Time is 9 hours later than Coordinated Universal Time (UTC).
• Daylight Savings Time doesn't apply in this locale.

• America/New_York
• Australia/Darwin
• Canada/Eastern
• Europe/London

This is how time zones were previously handled in MIDAS (v4.07 and earlier). However server support for such time zone formats is not as widespread as for the stdoffset[dst[offset][,start[/time],end[/time]]] notation described above.

Upgrading from MIDAS v4.07 to v4.08 or later will retain your previous time zone setting, but it may appear as a custom time zone setting in v4.08+. You may subsequnetly wish to select a more appropriate time zone from the new list of available time zones in the drop-down.