Thanks Norman but how can I write a simple code line to grab it ? I write desktop app and I’m a newbie with web code ! (I have the desktop edition of Xojo)
Thanks again !
Ah - not sure that anyone has currently built an SNTP client in Xojo (or ever that I can find) - SNTP is Simple Network Time Protocol and probably fits your needs
Oddly enough even SNPT isn’t really “simple”
It involves implementing & adhering to the protocol and querying a well known reliable server.
I have yet to see an acronym with “simple” in it that actual is!
Depending on the purpose/need of the “real” date/time, couldn’t you find a website that posts the current time/date and then parse that? Sort of a cheap hack, but might be easier. Still wouldn’t help for knowing your actual location, though.
Since all modern computers have their time/date set via the Internet anyway, I don’t see why this would be needed.
Since all modern computers have their time/date set via the Internet anyway, I don’t see why this would be needed.
On my computer, this is user changeable.
Also, my computer is not connected to the internet 24/24 (nor 7/7 nor 12/12 nor ).
I also found computers whose ‘clock battery’ was without power; the computer clock is reset to an old date at each Power On (if Power is with a On/Off socket).
Not sure what kind of app the OP is working on but I have a time clock app that our employees use. I didn’t want to rely on the date/time of the PC the employee was using to clock in or out as it could be altered. I query the date/time from the database server. I keep the server date/time updated with a PERL script.
Keep in mind that NTP requires port 37 to be open for outgoing connections, so it could be that. Also, it could be that the time server isn’t reachable. I can’t remember if its set to time-a.nist.gov or time.apple.com.
It works for me too , but it takes several clicks on the “go” button,. The number of clicks sems to be random (?) Sometimes 2, sometimes 4…
MacBookPro MacOSX 10.6.8 Xojo R2
When I tried it yesterday I needed to change the SNTP server to time-a.nist.gov and then it worked perfectly. You can check http://tf.nist.gov/tf-cgi/servers.cgi for availability, if you are going to implement a SNTP solution and want to make it more reliable you may want to walk down a list of servers until you got a response.
I have a need to produce two audio files, on two different places, and to tag their times in a way they can be reliably lined up later on.
I have two problems. One is that audio recording may not start at the same time. The other is that audio recording may drift from one computer to the other. This is usually unnoticeable (a couple of seconds over an hour, for example) and happens due to each computers capabilities, load, write speed, etc. The problem is that this drift is very obvious when the two files are aligned.
I was thinking of using NTP to tag both the beginning and end of the recording, that way I’d solve both issues simultaneously. Before I embark on this I’d rather ask if you guys have alternatives that I could use.
Keep in mind that using the local computer’s time is not good enough, as both might not be aligned, and the resolution needed to avoid drift must go down to at least tenths or hundredths of a second for the duration.
This isn’t modern NTP - it’s the old timeserver on port 37
You can get the more accurate network time down to 1/10,000’s of a second but it’s a bit more complex.
There is some php code on the following URL which does the more accurate request, you would need to port it over to Xojo :
It needs modifying slightly to get it working due to the cookie stuff they use but when I tested it I got an output accurate to 1/10,000th of a second like this :
There’s a lot more to NTP that you might think - it takes into account the round trip of the network request instead of just issueing a single time so it sends back a bunch of bytes which need interpreting correctly.
There’s an even more accurate version than this available as well. I thought the fractions of a second on the most accurate version could be a good source of entropy.
[quote=28881:@GraudBOUSQUET]For example it’s to limit the duration of a demo mode ! A lot of demo mode can be bypassed by changing the computer date !
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A web app should have accurate time, as it executes on a host that is usually synchronized over the Internet.
I have a web app for customers to download during a given period of time. Upon sale I create a file where I record the customer details, and TotalSeconds. Then all I have to do is compare with current TotalSeconds, each day represents 86400 seconds. An I do not have to compare “real time”…
