Bot-docs: `convertFromUTC` returns different format than other date methods

[chryw]

Why does convertFromUTC return value look different than other UTC related methods? Am I supposed to format it myself? If so, what's the right format/locale? Thanks!

---

Document Details

⚠ Do not edit this section. It is required for docs.microsoft.com ➟ GitHub issue linking.

• ID: f5cc1453-1ec4-1ad7-2a9f-fa934224b79d
• Version Independent ID: 9645f547-d38a-4a22-c84b-ee98b7f24dfc
• Content: Adaptive expressions prebuilt functions - Bot Service
• Content Source: articles/adaptive-expressions/adaptive-expressions-prebuilt-functions.md
• Service: bot-service
• GitHub Login: @Kamrani
• Microsoft Alias: kamrani

[emgrol]

Hi @chryw, did you mean the convertFromUTC function? The return formats for convertToUTC and utcNow are the same (the default, which is YYYY-MM-DDTHH:mm:ss.fffZ) but I just tested convertFromUTC and that's returning the datetime value in a different format.

[chryw]

@emgrol yes good catch. I made a typo. Just updated my question. Thanks! :-)
I also just learned that "-07:00" part is called offset and I can easily remove it with string formatting. Just curious if this is by design though.

[emgrol]

Sorry for the delay @chryw. I believe this by design since the function converts from UTC to a different format. Can you confirm this @boydc2014?

[cosmicshuai]

Hi @chryw
convertFromUtc means you convert a utc timestamp to a given timezone .
The "Z" in timestamp means it is a utc timestamp, which is the default for most time related adaptive-expression prebuilt functions.
However, the output of convertFromUtc does not follows the default format.
The output contains the timezone info. The offset "-07:00" indicates it is 7 hour later than the UTC timezone.
So I'd like to suggest just remove the offset in the string.

[chryw]

Thanks @cosmicshuai ! Yes I figured it out after some digging. Thanks for confirming. I did end up reformatting the string to remove the offset.
Would it make sense to call out the offset in the docs? BTW, the current Wikipedia link is no longer valid. You may want to point to this https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_8601

Thanks!

[cosmicshuai]

@chryw
Thanks for the infomation. We will update the doc and the link of wikipedia. BTW, I think it will be better to remove offset in the result of convertFromUtc. I will discuss this with our team.

[cosmicshuai]

@emgrol @chryw
I have a PR for this issue. It should be merged soon.
https://github.com/microsoft/botbuilder-dotnet/pull/5004

[emgrol]

Closing now that https://github.com/MicrosoftDocs/bot-docs-pr/pull/2484 has been merged.