2007-10-25

QTP - How to set/get system time and date?

QTP allows running different types of test. And sometimes, it needs perform time and date manipulations on a computer. In this article, I will show and explain - how to get system time/date and change them.

Actually, today's lecture consists of two questions:
  1. How to get system time and date?
  2. How to set system time and date?
Let start training right now :)
So, the first section is:


How to get system time and date?

Actually, this is not difficult task! Use the following functions:
  • Now - function returns the current date and time according to the setting of your computer's system date and time.
  • Date - function returns the current system date.
  • Time - function returns a Variant of subtype Date indicating the current system time.
So, the code is very simple. I provide it with a screen shot containing results:


Well, let's deal with the second section:


How to set system time and date?

For that, I will use simple DOS commands:
  • time - this command displays or sets the system time:
    To change the time, pass it as a parameter to time command. See the above screen shot as an example.

  • date - this command displays or sets the system date:
    To change the date, pass it as a parameter to date command. See the above screen shot as an example for date manipulations :)
Now, I will combine all the above VBScript functions (Now, Date, Time) and DOC commands (time and date):

As you can see, initial date and time were '26.10.2007 22:45:10'. Then I added 3 days and 2 hours to initial date & time. The result of addition is - '30.10.2007 0:45:10'.

By the way, could you guess, why the result day is 30th, not 29th? :) To answer, please pay attention that we added 2 hours too :)

The last step - running of time and date commands from command line. I used Run method of WScript.Shell object.


So, as you can see - date and time manipulation is easy enough.



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9 comments:

  1. Anshoo AroraNovember 12, 2007 at 11:38 PM

    You have posted:

    newDateTime = DateAdd("y",3,newDateTime) 'add 3 days

    and the output has shown an addition of 3 days (or 4?). Isn't it supposed to be:

    newDateTime = DateAdd("d",3,newDateTime) 'add 3 days

    ReplyDelete
  2. Dmitry MotevichNovember 12, 2007 at 11:54 PM

    2Anshoo:
    Please, read the article carefully.
    There is no any error :)

    Please, read my question:
    By the way, could you guess, why the result day is 30th, not 29th? :) To answer, please pay attention that we added 2 hours too :)

    I hope, It will help you explain the logic :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anshoo AroraNovember 13, 2007 at 4:41 PM

    You are absolutely right.

    However, I was wondering why using 'y' gave you an output of +3 days instead of +3 years. Shouldn't 'd' give you that output: x=y('d',3,x)?

    Is it because of the difference in LR versions? Was just curious...

    ReplyDelete
  4. Dmitry MotevichNovember 13, 2007 at 5:05 PM

    2Anshoo:
    'y' means 'Day of year', not 'year' :)

    Please, see Help of DateAdd VBScript function

    If you want to add several years, just specify 'yyyy'.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Anshoo AroraNovember 13, 2007 at 6:26 PM

    Oh, right. I was confusing this with LR parameterization symbols.

    Sorry for that :)

    ReplyDelete
  6. UnknownDecember 10, 2007 at 7:04 PM

    I'm a complete noob, but is there a way to make two scripts? One that sets the date to some pre-defined date (say 2 days in advance), and then another that returns it to what it "SHOULD" be? Imagine it gets complicated when it runs into the condition that the day naturally advances between me setting and resetting. Looking for a quick way to change my system time/date a lot for testing a calendar app, but its screwing up my email send dates, so need quick way to switch back. Running Vista if thats a consideration.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Dmitry MotevichDecember 10, 2007 at 7:12 PM

    2 Mondo:
    Sure, you can switch a time back.
    If you use the following code to *add* 2 hours:
    DateAdd("h", 2, curDateTime)

    then you have to *subtract* 2 hours:
    DateAdd("h", -2, curDateTime)

    After that, your time will revert to correct value.

    ReplyDelete
  8. AnonymousOctober 1, 2008 at 7:03 AM

    You have mentioned
    curDateTime=Now
    curDate=Date
    curTime=Time

    but why it cant be
    curDateTime=DateTime
    curDate=Date
    curTime=Time

    or
    curDateTime=Now
    curDate=Now
    curTime=Now

    Please explain.
    Thanks in advance,
    sricharantester@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  9. Dmitry MotevichOctober 1, 2008 at 11:07 AM

    @ Anonymous,
    I used:
    curDateTime=Now
    curDate=Date
    curTime=Time
    just to simplify a date formatting.

    ReplyDelete

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