Getting In The Time Zone

Recently, there has been some confusion as to how version 4 our API handles timezones. In this post, I'll explain how timezones work in the Bronto API, and what you need to do to ensure that you are using the correct timezone.

Where In The World Is Bronto?

The default timezone used in the Bronto API is GMT (Greenwich Mean Time). For example, December 14 1984 12:14:37 would be 1984-12-14T12:14:37.

Note: Our API uses the ISO 8601 standard

How Do I Use A Different Timezone?

You can (and should) specify a timezone offset if you do not want the system to assume you are providing a time in UTC (Universal Coordinated Time / Greenwich Mean Time). For the Eastern Time Zone on Daylight Savings Time, this would be YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS-04:00. For other offset values, see this page.

Why Should You Care?

If you are doing anything with the API that is time dependent, you should be aware of the timezone you are using. For example, let's say you are using the API to send transactional messages as receipts to your contacts after they make a purchase. With receipts, the expectation is that they are sent as soon as the purchase is made. If you are in New York City, and make a call to the API to send out a transactional delivery without specifying a timezone, the receipt will be sent using GMT, and not EDT as the timezone. Hence, the delivery will not be sent at the expected time.

If you have any questions about timezone usage in version 4 of our API, please leave them in the comments section below.

John Gunther
Technical Writer/eLearning Specialist
Editor of Brontoversity