# DateTime math troubles **URL:** \ **Category:** Ignition\ **Created:** [June 4, 2020, 6:58pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/datetime-math-troubles/35339 "2020-06-04T18:58:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![twstevic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a183cd/32.png) [@twstevic](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/twstevic)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2020, 6:58pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/datetime-math-troubles/35339/1 "2020-06-04T18:58:53Z")
I am attempting to calculate a time difference between two DateTime objects. The first object is system.date.now(). The second object is giving me trouble. the second object is taken from a row in a dataset that was populated with a SQL query to a MySQL database. ```auto current_datetime = system.date.now() event_set_time = tbl.getValueAt(selrow, 'IG_Event_Set_time') ``` The customer wants to know the time difference in minutes (since\_reset\_time). Something along the order of: ```auto system.date.minutesBetween(current_datetime, event_set_time) ``` The event\_set\_time DateTime can actually be up to 10 days prior to current\_datetime. The customer wants the since\_reset\_time in minutes. Every attempt I have made to calculate this number has resulted in some sort of datatype error. ---
**Author:** ![kaushik.shah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/34f0e0/32.png) [@kaushik.shah](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/kaushik.shah)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2020, 8:27pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/datetime-math-troubles/35339/2 "2020-06-04T20:27:01Z")
> [@twstevic](#): > > The event\_set\_time DateTime can actually be up to 10 days prior to current\_datetime. The customer wants the since\_reset\_time in minutes. Every attempt I have made to calculate this number has resulted in some sort of datatype error. What is the datatype of that table column ? You can do `tbl.getColumnType(tbl.getColumnIndex('IG_Event_Set_time'))`. If the type of your column is string, you'll have to convert the time into date, one way is as below: ```auto from java.util import Calendar from java.text import SimpleDateFormat Date format will vary. time = SimpleDateFormat('yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss').parse(time) ``` If the date format is date, Can you post the Error ? ---
**Author:** ![twstevic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a183cd/32.png) [@twstevic](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/twstevic)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2020, 8:47pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/datetime-math-troubles/35339/3 "2020-06-04T20:47:04Z")
Hi. The column in mysql is a DATETIME. The column in the dataset is Date. This is the closest I have come to getting this to work: ```auto # Calculate Event Since Set Time since_set_time_format = str(system.date.minutesBetween(event_set_time_raw,current_time_raw)) # since_set_time_format = current_datetime - event_set_datetime since_set_str = str(since_set_time_format) ``` ![Capture](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/original/2X/d/dbf055e0188f97eb5aed8192c6fb4dccf037aac0.png) I am pretty sure there are more than 465 minutes between the two Datetimes ---
**Author:** ![kaushik.shah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/34f0e0/32.png) [@kaushik.shah](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/kaushik.shah)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2020, 9:07pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/datetime-math-troubles/35339/4 "2020-06-04T21:07:09Z")
Amm, Something’s not right. I just checked mine with two different dates from SQL. Can you please ```auto print event_set_time_raw print type(event_set_time_raw) print current_time_raw print type(current_time_raw) ``` ---
**Author:** ![nminchin](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/nminchin/32/6911_2.png) [@nminchin](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/nminchin)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2020, 9:27pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/datetime-math-troubles/35339/5 "2020-06-04T21:27:15Z")
> [@kaushik.shah](#): > > from java.util import Calendar from java.text import SimpleDateFormat Date format will vary. time = SimpleDateFormat('yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss Why not just use `system.date.parse`? ---
**Author:** ![kaushik.shah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/34f0e0/32.png) [@kaushik.shah](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/kaushik.shah)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2020, 9:31pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/datetime-math-troubles/35339/6 "2020-06-04T21:31:27Z")
That’s right !! Sometime I can only think non straightforward ways of solving problems ---
**Author:** ![twstevic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a183cd/32.png) [@twstevic](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/twstevic)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2020, 11:59am UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/datetime-math-troubles/35339/7 "2020-06-05T11:59:01Z")
I shall try ```auto 101 print event_set_time_raw 102 print type(event_set_time_raw) 103 print current_time_raw 104 print type(current_time_raw) ``` returns: Traceback (most recent call last): File “event:mouseReleased”, line 2, in File “”, line 102, in ShowDetails TypeError: ‘unicode’ object is not callable ---
**Author:** ![twstevic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a183cd/32.png) [@twstevic](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/twstevic)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2020, 12:08pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/datetime-math-troubles/35339/8 "2020-06-05T12:08:50Z")
I shall try: ‘’’ current\_time\_parse = system.date.parse(current\_time\_raw) event\_set\_time\_raw = tbl.getValueAt(selrow, ‘IG\_Event\_Set\_Time’) event\_set\_time\_parse = system.date.parse(event\_set\_time\_raw) ``` since_set_time_test = str(system.date.minutesBetween(event_set_time_parse,current_time_parse)) ``` ```auto Uploading seems to be not working for me today. The result is: Set 2020-06-04 05:51:07 Since Set (min) 1021 I ran the script at 2020-07-04 07:28:03 ```