Delphi - equivalent to C# DateTime.IsDaylightSavingTime() method needed

Question

I need somehow to determine whether some TDateTime value is within the Daylight Saving Time range for my timezone or not (in C# the same thing does the DateTime.IsDaylightSavingTime() method).

I know in Delphi there's no similar function, because Delphi TDateTime contains no information about timezone, but I suppose there's some way how to do this using Win32 API.

I've looked at Win32 API GetTimeZoneInformation and GetTimeZoneInformationForYear functions, but I don't quite understand how to use them, so I'd like to ask you for help. Thanks in advance for any tips.

Edit:

Example:

In my timezone (Central European) Daylight Saving Time started this year on 28th March at 2 am and ends on 31st October 2010 at 3 am.

I need a function with header:

function IsDaylightSavingTime(input: TDateTime): boolean;

that will return true if the input date is between 28th March 2010 2:00 and 31st October 2010 3:00 and false if not.

(The example is just for year 2010, but I'd need it to work for all years.)

Once again, I know that information saved in TDateTime alone is not enough, but I think that with some Win32 API function I should be able to get e.g. information about current timezone from Windows settings.

Answer 1

It is not as easy as it sounds, because:

1) The switch-over date between DST and standard time is not the same for all countries

2) The switch-over date between DST and standard time is not the same algorithm for the same country for all years (for example in Central Europe it was previously first Sunday in April, IIRC, now it is last Sunday in March). The USA changed from first Sunday in April to the second Sunday in March from 2007 and on.

So - a simple date is not enough, you'll also need a geographical location.

But, if you can live with the fact, that you limit yourself to the switch-over dates that can be calculated from the CURRENT algorithm for the CURRENT year for the CURRENT locale (country) and that this may be wrong for dates both in the future and in the past, then you can use the information in TIME_ZONE_INFORMATION to calculate the switch-over dates:

USES Windows,SysUtils,DateUtils;

FUNCTION GetDaylightSavingsSwitchOverDates(Year : Cardinal ; VAR Start,Stop : TDateTime) : BOOLEAN;

  VAR
    TZ : TTimeZoneInformation;

  FUNCTION DecodeSwitchOverDate(Year : Cardinal ; CONST Time : TSystemTime) : TDateTime;
    VAR
      I : Cardinal;

    BEGIN
      Result:=EncodeDateTime(Year,Time.wMonth,1,Time.wHour,Time.wMinute,Time.wSecond,0);
      IF Time.wDay=5 THEN BEGIN
        Result:=DateOf(EndOfTheMonth(Result))+TimeOf(Result);
        WHILE PRED(DayOfWeek(Result))<>Time.wDayOfWeek DO
          Result:=IncDay(Result,-1)
        END
      ELSE BEGIN
        WHILE PRED(DayOfWeek(Result))<>Time.wDayOfWeek DO Result:=IncDay(Result);
        FOR I:=1 TO PRED(Time.wDay) DO Result:=IncWeek(Result)
      END
    END;

  BEGIN
    IF GetTimeZoneInformation(TZ)=TIME_ZONE_ID_UNKNOWN THEN
      Result:=FALSE
    ELSE BEGIN
      Start:=DecodeSwitchOverDate(Year,TZ.DaylightDate);
      Stop:=DecodeSwitchOverDate(Year,TZ.StandardDate);
      Result:=TRUE
    END
  END;

FUNCTION StartOfDST(Year : Cardinal) : TDateTime;
  VAR
    Stop : TDateTime;

  BEGIN
    IF NOT GetDaylightSavingsSwitchOverDates(Year,Result,Stop) THEN Result:=0
  END;

FUNCTION EndOfDST(Year : Cardinal) : TDateTime;
  VAR
    Start : TDateTime;

  BEGIN
    IF NOT GetDaylightSavingsSwitchOverDates(Year,Start,Result) THEN Result:=0
  END;

Looping through the years 2000 to 2020 on my PC (Central Europe Time Zone), I get the following dates:

DST in 2000: Sun 26 Mar 2000 02:00:00 through Sun 29 Oct 2000 03:00:00
DST in 2001: Sun 25 Mar 2001 02:00:00 through Sun 28 Oct 2001 03:00:00
DST in 2002: Sun 31 Mar 2002 02:00:00 through Sun 27 Oct 2002 03:00:00
DST in 2003: Sun 30 Mar 2003 02:00:00 through Sun 26 Oct 2003 03:00:00
DST in 2004: Sun 28 Mar 2004 02:00:00 through Sun 31 Oct 2004 03:00:00
DST in 2005: Sun 27 Mar 2005 02:00:00 through Sun 30 Oct 2005 03:00:00
DST in 2006: Sun 26 Mar 2006 02:00:00 through Sun 29 Oct 2006 03:00:00
DST in 2007: Sun 25 Mar 2007 02:00:00 through Sun 28 Oct 2007 03:00:00
DST in 2008: Sun 30 Mar 2008 02:00:00 through Sun 26 Oct 2008 03:00:00
DST in 2009: Sun 29 Mar 2009 02:00:00 through Sun 25 Oct 2009 03:00:00
DST in 2010: Sun 28 Mar 2010 02:00:00 through Sun 31 Oct 2010 03:00:00
DST in 2011: Sun 27 Mar 2011 02:00:00 through Sun 30 Oct 2011 03:00:00
DST in 2012: Sun 25 Mar 2012 02:00:00 through Sun 28 Oct 2012 03:00:00
DST in 2013: Sun 31 Mar 2013 02:00:00 through Sun 27 Oct 2013 03:00:00
DST in 2014: Sun 30 Mar 2014 02:00:00 through Sun 26 Oct 2014 03:00:00
DST in 2015: Sun 29 Mar 2015 02:00:00 through Sun 25 Oct 2015 03:00:00
DST in 2016: Sun 27 Mar 2016 02:00:00 through Sun 30 Oct 2016 03:00:00
DST in 2017: Sun 26 Mar 2017 02:00:00 through Sun 29 Oct 2017 03:00:00
DST in 2018: Sun 25 Mar 2018 02:00:00 through Sun 28 Oct 2018 03:00:00
DST in 2019: Sun 31 Mar 2019 02:00:00 through Sun 27 Oct 2019 03:00:00
DST in 2020: Sun 29 Mar 2020 02:00:00 through Sun 25 Oct 2020 03:00:00

but at least some of these years are incorrect due to the algorithm having changed from my locale in the years listed.

Your function would then be:

FUNCTION IsDaylightSavingTime(Input : TDateTime) : BOOLEAN;
  VAR
    Start,Stop : TDateTime;

  BEGIN
    Result:=GetDaylightSavingsSwitchOverDates(YearOf(Input),Start,Stop) AND (Input>=Start) AND (Input<Stop)
  END;

Answer 2

Maybe it is overkill for your specific application, but the open source project "Olson Time Zone Database for Delphi" allows to access all time zones supported by the tz database project. The tz database gets regular updates with newest daylight savings changes or fixes.

TZDB can be compiled on Delphi 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 2007, 2009, 2010 and XE or FreePascal 2.0 and higher. TZDB is best used with Delphi XE which introduces TTimeZone class into RTL.