IsoDate

Javascript implementation of Dates parsing and formatting in ISO-8601 standard. Good time zone support.

Why this need:

• Some browsers do not support ISO formatting/parsing. Like: IE6,7,8,9
• Some browser/libraries treat missing of TZ info("1753-01-01T00:00:00") differently - as local date or like UTC.
• Some libraries can not format Date as ISO without TZ info.
• Cross-browser support. This library do not rely on non consistent Date.parse() or Date.toISOString() functions. Only low level used, like: Date.setDate(), Date.setUTCDate().
• Using JSON format with Date objects. This library provide fast match for ISO date text values.

Parsing

UTC:

isoDate.parse("1753-01-01T00:00:00Z");

Local date(note: some browsers consider this as UTC):

isoDate.parse("1753-01-01T00:00:00");

Specified TZ:

isoDate.parse("1753-01-01T00:00:00+30:00");
isoDate.parse("1753-01-01T00:00:00+3000");

Formating

UTC(same as w3c Date.toJSON()):

isoDate.toUTCString(new Date());

Local date (without TZ info):

isoDate.toLocalString(new Date());

Match

if(isoDate.match("1753-01-01T00:00:00+30:00")){
//provided text is ISO date
};

Using dates in JSON

JSON specification do NOT cover date type!

There in no common practice to handle this.

Some use number:

new Date().getTime()

Some use special format (ASP.NET, WCF):

"\"\\/Date(" + this.getTime() + ")\\/\"";

Following example use ISO format:

//Convert all Date values to String in all properties of object.
//Note: given example use IsoDate.toUTCString, alternative you can use IsoDate.toLocalString.
function preJSON = function(obj, copyObj) {
var c = copyObj || {};
for (var i in obj) {
	if (typeof obj[i] === 'function') {
		continue;
	}
	if (obj[i] != null && typeof obj[i] === 'object') {
		if (obj[i] instanceof Date) {
			c[i] = IsoDate.toUTCString(obj[i]);
		} else {
			c[i] = (obj[i].constructor === Array) ? [] : {};
			preJSON(obj[i], c[i]);
		}
	} else {
		c[i] = obj[i];
	}
}
return c;
};


//Convert all date-like String to Date in all properties of object.
function postJSON = function(obj, copyObj) {
var c = copyObj || {};
for (var i in obj) {
	if (obj[i] != null && typeof obj[i] === 'object') {
		c[i] = (obj[i].constructor === Array) ? [] : {};
		postJSON(obj[i], c[i]);
	} else {
		if (obj[i] != null && typeof obj[i] === 'string' && IsoDate.match(obj[i])) {
			obj[i] = IsoDate.parse(obj[i]);
		}
		c[i] = obj[i];
	}
}
return c;
};

var json = JSON.stringify(preJSON({date: new Date()}));
var object = JSON.parse(postJSON(json));
alert(object.date);