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DateTime Data Type in Dynamics NAV

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Denotes a date and time ranging from January 1, 1753, 00:00:00.000 to December 31, 9999, 23:59:59.999. An undefined or blank DateTime is specified by 0DT.

The displayed text format of a DateTime is determined by your Regional and Language Options in Windows.

Remarks

A DateTime is stored in the database as Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). UTC is the international time standard (formerly Greenwich Mean Time, or GMT). Zero hours UTC is midnight at 0 degrees longitude.

The DateTime is always displayed as local time in Dynamics NAV. Local time is determined by the time zone regional settings used by your computer. You must always enter DateTimes as local time. When you enter a DateTime as local time, it is converted to UTC using the current settings for the time zone and daylight savings time.

The DateTime data type does not support closing dates.

By default, DateTimes are displayed using the standard display format. When you use the standard display format, seconds and milliseconds are not displayed until you select the DateTime field. Furthermore, if you export your data using an XMLport or by writing it to a file, the seconds and milliseconds are not exported unless you specify that DateTime fields use another format and display this information. For more information about how DateTime objects are displayed and the formats that are available, see Format Property.

The only constant available when you use the DateTime data type is the undefined DateTime, 0DT. To assign a constant value to a DateTime variable you must use the CREATEDATETIME Function (DateTime).

If you use a date that is outside the valid date range, a run-time error occurs.

SQL Server

In SQL Server, the earliest permitted DateTime is January 1, 1753, 00:00:00.000. The latest permitted DateTime is December 31, 9999, 23:59:59.999.

If you store a date in the database that is outside the valid range for a SQL DATETIME, a run-time error run-time occurs.

Changes from Previous Versions of Microsoft Dynamics NAV

In versions earlier than Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2009, the DateTime data type denotes DateTimes ranging from January 1, 0000, 00:00:00.000 to December 31, 9999, 23:59:59.999, and includes the undefined DateTime, 0DT. Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2018 supports DateTimes with date January 1, 0000 as a special case for compatibility with previous versions.

This topic has been updated to specify the SQL Server requirement for the earliest DateTime rather than the internal Dynamics NAV DateTime. In SQL Server, the earliest DateTime is January 1, 1753, 00:00:00.000. Dynamics NAV can handle dates as early as January 3, 0001, but such dates cannot be stored in the database.

See Also

CREATEDATETIME Function (DateTime)
CURRENTDATETIME Function (DateTime)
DT2DATE Function (DateTime)
DT2TIME Function (DateTime)
ROUNDDATETIME Function (DateTime)