GetTimeFormat

A version of this page is also available for

Windows Embedded CE 6.0 R3

4/8/2010

This function formats a time as a time string for a specified locale. The function formats either a specified time or the local system time.

Syntax

int GetTimeFormat(
  LCID Locale, 
  DWORD dwFlags, 
  const SYSTEMTIME* lpTime, 
  LPCTSTR lpFormat, 
  LPTSTR lpTimeStr, 
  int cchTime 
); 

Parameters

• Locale
  [in] Value that specifies the locale for which the time string is to be formatted. If lpFormat is NULL, the function formats the string according to the time format for this locale. If lpFormat is not NULL, the function uses the locale only for information not specified in the format picture string (for example, the locale's time markers).

  This parameter can be a locale identifier created by the MAKELCID macro, or one of the following predefined values. The following table shows the values this parameter can take.

  Value	Description
  LOCALE_SYSTEM_DEFAULT	Default system locale.
  LOCALE_USER_DEFAULT	Default user locale.
  LOCALE_NEUTRAL	Default language–neutral locale.

  For Windows CE 1.0, Locale is ignored.

• dwFlags
  [in] Value that specifies various function options. You can specify a combination of the following flags. The following table shows the values this parameter can take.

  Value	Description
  TIME_NOMINUTESORSECONDS	Do not use minutes or seconds.
  TIME_NOSECONDS	Do not use seconds.
  TIME_NOTIMEMARKER	Do not use a time marker.
  TIME_FORCE24HOURFORMAT	Always use a 24-hour time format.
  LOCALE_NOUSEROVERRIDE	If set, the function formats the string using the system default time format for the specified locale. If not set, the function formats the string using any user overrides to the locale's default time format. This flag cannot be set if lpFormat is non-NULL.

• lpTime
  [in] Pointer to a SYSTEMTIME structure that contains the time information to be formatted. If this pointer is NULL, the function uses the current local system time.

• lpFormat
  [in] Pointer to a format picture to use to form the time string. If lpFormat is NULL, the function uses the time format of the specified locale.

  Use the following elements to construct a format picture string. If you use spaces to separate the elements in the format string, these spaces will appear in the same location in the output string. The letters must be in uppercase or lowercase as shown (for example, "ss", not "SS"). Characters in the format string that are enclosed in single quotation marks will appear in the same location and unchanged in the output string. The following table shows the values that can be used to construct a format picture string.

  Value	Description
  h	Hours with no leading zero for single-digit hours; 12-hour clock
  hh	Hours with leading zero for single-digit hours; 12-hour clock
  H	Hours with no leading zero for single-digit hours; 24-hour clock
  HH	Hours with leading zero for single-digit hours; 24-hour clock
  m	Minutes with no leading zero for single-digit minutes
  mm	Minutes with leading zero for single-digit minutes
  s	Seconds with no leading zero for single-digit seconds
  ss	Seconds with leading zero for single-digit seconds
  t	One character time marker string, such as A or P
  tt	Multicharacter time marker string, such as AM or PM

  For example, to get the time string "11:29:40 PM", use the following picture string: "hh':'mm':'ss tt"

• lpTimeStr
  [out] Pointer to a buffer that receives the formatted time string.

• cchTime
  [in] Size, in characters, of the lpTimeStr buffer. If cchTime is zero, the function returns the number of characters required to hold the formatted time string, and the buffer pointed to by lpTimeStr is not used.

Return Value

The number of characters written to the buffer pointed to by lpTimeStr indicates success. If the cchTime parameter is zero, the number of characters required to hold the formatted time string indicates success. The count includes the terminating null. Zero indicates failure. To get extended error information, call the GetLastError function. The following table shows possible return values for GetLastError.

Remarks

If a time marker exists and the TIME_NOTIMEMARKER flag is not set, the function localizes the time marker based on the specified locale identifier. Examples of time markers are "AM" and "PM" for US English.

The time values in the SYSTEMTIME structure pointed to by lpTime must be valid. The function checks each time values to determine if it is within the appropriate range of values. If any of the time values are outside the correct range, the function fails, and sets the last-error to ERROR_INVALID_PARAMETER.

The function ignores the date portions of the SYSTEMTIME structure pointed to by lpTime: wYear, wMonth, wDayOfWeek, and wDay.

If TIME_NOMINUTESORSECONDS or TIME_NOSECONDS is specified, the function removes the separator(s) preceding the minutes and/or seconds element(s).

If TIME_NOTIMEMARKER is specified, the function removes the separator(s) preceding and following the time marker.

If TIME_FORCE24HOURFORMAT is specified, the function displays any existing time marker, unless the TIME_NOTIMEMARKER flag is also set.

The function does not include milliseconds as part of the formatted time string.

To use the LOCALE_NOUSEROVERRIDE flag, lpFormat must be NULL.

No errors are returned for a bad format string. The function simply forms the best time string that it can. If more than two hour, minute, second, or time marker format pictures are passed in, then the function defaults to two. For example, the only valid time marker pictures are L"t" and L"tt" .The 'L' indicates a string consisting of Unicode 16-bit characters. If L"ttt" is passed in, the function assumes L"tt".

For more information about locales and LCID, see National Language support (NLS) Locale Identifiers.

Requirements

See Also

Reference

GetDateFormat
MAKELCID

Other Resources

National Language Support (NLS) Locale Identifiers
SYSTEMTIME