Re: to_json(now()) result doesn't have 'T' separator - Mailing list pgsql-general

From Joe Van Dyk
Subject Re: to_json(now()) result doesn't have 'T' separator
Date
Msg-id CACfv+pLDzZji5C3iS=arBmq074Yi3Ez-+g8pzYF+Qr0dwU=cnQ@mail.gmail.com
Whole thread Raw
In response to Re: to_json(now()) result doesn't have 'T' separator  (Joe Van Dyk <joe@tanga.com>)
Responses Re: to_json(now()) result doesn't have 'T' separator
List pgsql-general
I tried making some cast functions as follows, but it doesn't seem to work properly:

create or replace function iso_timestamp(timestamptz) returns json as $$
  select ('"' ||
          substring(xmlelement(name x, $1)::text from 4 for 32) || '"'
        )::json
$$ language sql immutable;

create cast (timestamptz as json) with function iso_timestamp (timestamptz) as implicit;

create function to_json(timestamptz) returns json as $$
  select $1::json
$$ language sql immutable;

create table t (id serial primary key, created_at timestamptz default now());
insert into t values (default);
select row_to_json(t) from t;

                      row_to_json
-------------------------------------------------------
 {"id":1,"created_at":"2013-12-23 17:37:08.825935-08"}


On Mon, Dec 23, 2013 at 5:28 PM, Joe Van Dyk <joe@tanga.com> wrote:
This has been brought up a few times in the past:

Any chance it could be fixed? I can't figure out a way to easily let javascript applications parse json timestamps generated by postgresql in row_to_json() statements.


On Fri, Dec 20, 2013 at 6:27 PM, Joe Van Dyk <joe@tanga.com> wrote:
On Fri, Dec 20, 2013 at 4:24 PM, Joe Van Dyk <joe@tanga.com> wrote:


On Fri, Dec 20, 2013 at 4:18 PM, Joe Van Dyk <joe@tanga.com> wrote:
# select to_json(now());
             to_json
---------------------------------
 "2013-12-20 15:53:39.098204-08"
(1 row)

I'd like to see it output "2013-12-20T15:53:39.098204-08" so it's interchangeable with more systems.

Actually, "2013-12-20T15:53:39.44553-08:00" would be ideal.

I dug into the docs some more, and I found this at http://www.postgresql.org/docs/9.3/static/datatype-datetime.html:
"Note: ISO 8601 specifies the use of uppercase letter T to separate the date and time.PostgreSQL accepts that format on input, but on output it uses a space rather than T, as shown above. This is for readability and for consistency with RFC 3339 as well as some other database systems."

So I looked up RFC 3339 (http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc3339.txt) and read:  "NOTE: ISO 8601 defines date and time separated by "T".  Applications using this syntax may choose, for the sake of readability, to specify a full-date and full-time separated by (say) a space character."

Doesn't seem like including the 'T' separator would be inconsistent with RFC 3399?

I'm sending the output of to_json(now()) to web browsers. Most browsers aren't able to parse the date strings if they are missing the 'T' separator. If datetime strings could include the 'T' time separator and the full timezone, that would make generating json that worked with web browsers much simpler.

Joe



 


I'm working with javascript/json systems that expect the 'T' to be there however, so there's no mutual agreement happening.

Thoughts? I know I can hack around it by specifying my own date format, but I'd really like to be able to use row_to_json and other functions without specifying custom date formats everywhere.

Joe




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