Search Results get_server_time

Overview

CSFW_TIMEZONE_PUB is a public PL/SQL package owned by the APPS schema in Oracle E-Business Suite releases 12.1.1 and 12.2.2. Its source header identifies it as a "PUB" (public) API, meaning it is intended for direct invocation by external callers such as forms, concurrent programs, and custom code, rather than being restricted to internal use. The declared AUTHID CURRENT_USER clause indicates that the package executes with the privileges of the invoking user, so callers must themselves hold the necessary object privileges on any referenced objects.

The package exists to solve a recurring problem in a globally deployed EBS environment: user sessions may run in a client time zone that differs from the database server time zone. CSFW_TIMEZONE_PUB provides the conversion primitives that allow an application to translate a date/time value back and forth between the server's clock and the client's local clock, and to determine the numeric offset between the two. Historically the package is associated with the Field Service / CRM service-requesting family of modules (the CSF prefix), where scheduled service activities, response windows, and service-request timestamps must be presented to end users in local time regardless of where the database is hosted.

Key Procedures and Functions

Three documented program units constitute the public interface. Only signatures visible in the specification excerpt are described; parameter lists are not invented.

• GET_CLIENT_TIME — accepts a server time value and returns the corresponding client time. This is the primary conversion direction for display scenarios: a timestamp captured or stored on the database server is translated into the time zone in which the end user is working.
• TIME_DIFF_SERVER_TO_CLIENT — returns a numeric value representing the difference between server time and client time. Because it returns a number rather than a date, it is suited to callers that need the offset itself, for arithmetic on a range of values, or for validation logic, rather than a single converted timestamp.
• GET_SERVER_TIME — accepts a client time together with a date format and returns a string. This is the inverse conversion direction: a locally expressed time supplied by the caller is rendered as the equivalent server time, with the caller controlling the formatting of the returned character value.

Tables Accessed

The ETRM 12.2.2 metadata records no tables referenced through APPS synonyms. This is consistent with the package specification shown, which is a pure conversion interface with no DML and no declared table dependencies. The package therefore appears to derive the client/server offset from environment or profile-derived values rather than from persistent application data. The shipped header revision 115.4 2003/10/16 indicates that the interface itself has been stable across a long period, and that no documented table contract exists.

Usage Notes

Because the package is classified PUB and is referenced by two other packages, it functions as a shared utility layer rather than a standalone feature. Typical invocation patterns include: Oracle Forms triggers that display a server-stored timestamp in the user's local time via GET_CLIENT_TIME; concurrent programs or custom PL/SQL that must reconcile a client-entered date against server time using GET_SERVER_TIME with an explicit format mask; and dependent packages that call TIME_DIFF_SERVER_TO_CLIENT to obtain the offset once and apply it across multiple values. Callers should note the asymmetry of the interface — one direction returns a DATE, the opposite direction returns a formatted String — and should therefore not assume the two conversions are interchangeable in datatype terms. As with all AUTHID CURRENT_USER public APIs, privileges must be granted to the calling schema before use.