Time Provider
The Time Provider gets its actual time from different sources: NTP server, GPS satellite time or the standard system clock to offer a high precision time.
It automatically selects the best source to provide a really precise clock.
Note
|
According to many tests we made with different watches and devices, the standard Android system clock may not be very precise. Depending on the vendor, OS implementation and internal sync interval, deviations up to 1.5 seconds compared to atomic time has been observed. If this is not acceptable, use this provider. |
Configuration
-
NTP Settings
-
Use NTP as Time Source
Enabled to query the list of NTP servers for time synchronization. -
Sync Interval
The NTP server sync interval time, like4h
or12h
. A good default value is to query every 4 hours to keep the provider in sync. -
NTP Server List
A list of (S)NTP time server hosts to query. This list is used from top to bottom, if the first server on the list can’t be reached, the next one is taken as fallback.NoteThe tyckr project provides its own Stratum 2 NTP server at time.tyckr.io
as an alternative time server.
Access is anonymous and not logged.
-
-
GPS Settings
-
Use GPS as Time Source
Enable to use GPS location information as time source.
This is useful if no network for NTP sync is available. Using the time of the satellite onboard atomic clocks, this time source is fairly precise as well.ImportantGPS needs the location access permission to work.
-
-
System Clock Settings
-
Use System Clock
Enable to get the time from the system clock. As mentioned above, this clock may not have a high precision.
-
Important
|
If NTP and GPS are enabled, the time source with the best status is used. If the status of NTP and GPS is equal, NTP is preferred. System Clock is only taken, if it’s enabled and no other source is available (disabled or has a failed status). |
@NOTE: If the time can’t be obtained and is invalid, all according queries below return NaN
or an empty text.
Query
-
Time
Returns the actual time.Text Numeric Time in the format specified by Param 2
Milliseconds since 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC + Timezone of Param 1
Numerically representation is given in milliseconds since epoch (1970-01-01) plus the timezone offset of Param 1.
-
Param 1
Sets the timezone in which the time is given.System Default
Uses the system timezone. This is normally the (automatically adjusted) timezone in which the device is currently located.
Timezone like 'Europe/Berlin'
Setup a custom timezone for the time.
-
Param 2
The time format of the text representation. See Time Format for details.
If empty, the default ISO formatyyyy-MM-dd’T’HH:mm:ss.SSSxxx
is used.
-
-
Epoch-Time
Returns the Unix epoch time in milliseconds.
These are the milliseconds since 1970-01-01 00:00:00. -
System Timezone
The local system timezone name likeEurope/Berlin
.
This is normally the (automatically adjusted) timezone in which the device is currently located. -
Timezone Offset to UTC
The local system timezone offset to UTC in Seconds. -
Date
The date in form of2023-10-25
. -
Year
Numeric year value like2023
. -
Month
Numeric month value of 1-12 like3
. -
Day
Numeric day value of 1-31 like11
. -
Weekday
Monday:1
, Tuesday:2
, … Sunday:7
. -
Is PM
AM:0
, PM:1
-
Hours (24)
Numeric hours value of 0-23 in 24-hour format. -
Hours (12)
Numeric hours value of 1-12 in 12-hour format. -
Minutes
Numeric minutes value of 0-59 like56
. -
Seconds
Numeric seconds value of 0-59 like45
. -
Milliseconds
Numeric milliseconds value 0-999 like311
. -
Time of Last Sync
The time of the last successful sync of the actual selected time source.
If the system clock is the actual source, the device boot time is returned, as synchronization of the system clock is done by the OS in background.-
Param 1
Sets the timezone in which the time is given. -
Param 2
The time format of the text representation. See Time Format for details.
If empty, the default ISO formatyyyy-MM-dd’T’HH:mm:ss.SSSxxx
is used.
-
-
Deviation to System Time
Returns the deviation of the time provided compared to the system clock im milliseconds.
If the system clock is behind the provided time, deviation is positive. -
Time Source
Returns the name or value of the actual selected time source:Name Numeric Description NONE
0
No source selected
SYS
1
System Clock
GPS
2
GPS
NTP
3
NTP
-
Sync Status
Returns the status of the currently selected time source.
If NTP is selected:Text Numeric Description N/A
0
No sync, no time available
Excellent
1
Sync happened in 2x sync interval.
Good
2
Sync happened in 3x sync interval.
Fair
3
Sync happened in 6x sync interval.
Poor
4
Sync happened in 12x sync interval.
Fail
5
Sync happened, but long time ago.
If GPS is selected:
Text Numeric Description N/A
0
No sync, no time available
Excellent
1
Sync happened in the last 8 hours.
Good
2
Sync happened in the last 12 hours.
Fair
3
Sync happened in the last 24 hours.
Poor
4
Sync happened in the last 48 hours.
Fail
5
Sync happened, but long time ago.
If System Clock is selected:
Text Numeric Description Good
2
System Clock is always considered good.