OSF DCE Application Development Guide--Core Components

Introduction to the Distributed Time Service API
Figure 19-4. Syntax for Representing a Duration
InS
n
M
n
H
n
TM
n
Y
n
P
Time Designator
Hours/Hour Designator
Minutes/Minute Designator
Seconds/Second Designator
Inaccuracy Designator/Inaccuracy
D
n
W
n
Period Designator
Years/Year Designator
Months/Month Designator
Weeks/Week Designator
Days/Day Designator
19.1.2.2 The Data Element Parts
The data element contains the following parts:
• The designator P precedes the part that includes the calendar components, including
the following:
— The number of years followed by the designator Y
— The number of months followed by the designator M
— The number of weeks followed by the designator W
— The number of days followed by the designator D
• The T designator precedes the part that includes the time components, including the
following:
— The number of hours followed by the designator H
— The number of minutes followed by the designator M
— The number of seconds followed by the designator S
• The designator I precedes the number of seconds of inaccuracy.
The following example represents a period of 1 year, 6 months, 15 days, 11 hours, 30
minutes, and 30 seconds and an unspecified inaccuracy:
P1Y6M15DT11H30M30S
The following example represents a period of 3 weeks and an inaccuracy of 4 seconds:
P3WI4
19.2 Time Structures
DTS can convert among several types of binary time structures that are based on
different base dates and time unit measurements. DTS uses UTC-based time structures
124245 Tandem Computers Incorporated 19−5