Time Zone configuration on SENAITE LIMS

ruhanga · May 5, 2023, 9:10am

Hi all,

While working with the SENAITE lims (senaite.lims 2.1.0), we’ve come across such a use-case as requiring users to access the LIMS system in their time zones. Tinkering with the SENAITE UI we came across this site setup (/@@dateandtime-controlpanel ) and had the following questions, 1.) Can the setting be user specific other than global/for all users and 2.) If yes, can it be set automatically based on the user’s client information?

cc @xispa @mksd @enyachoke

mksd · May 18, 2023, 9:29am

Hi @ramonski - I wonder if you could kindly take a look at our request above ?

ramonski · May 18, 2023, 11:02am

Hi @mksd,
We are happy to provide individual support via our paid services.
Please contact hello@ridingbytes.com for further details and to receive an offer.
Thank you for your understanding and best regards,
Ramon

mksd · May 18, 2023, 1:13pm

@ruhanga have you seen this?

Client side (user based) timezone

This thread suggested that it’s a two-step process:

Timezones have to be made available in the site setup (so at /@@dateandtime-controlpanel).
Looks like users can select from the available timezones through the “portal”:

The timezone setting of the portal. Users can set their own timezone, if available timezones are defined.

Not sure what this portal is though…

ruhanga · May 22, 2023, 6:46am

Thanks for the pointer @mksd, I somewhat can’t locate the timezone setting through the portal. However I have an impression that theoretically, this is supported already in plone from the following Plone community thread. I’ll also look into a suggested plone.app.event add-on and share my findings here.

mikemets · May 22, 2023, 7:04am

Did you find this link @ruhanga ? As @mksd said, you can set the available timezone there.

ruhanga · May 24, 2023, 9:19am

Thanks for your response @mikemets. I have tried making time zones available as seen in the following screenshot

I however cannot see the effect of doing so when I change my browser’s time zone. To confirm this, I created two analysis requests in different timezones and received them using the respective timezones to change their status. The received time timezones where inconsistent. Additionally changing my browser’s timezone doesn’t consequently change time I see.

Not sure how it works but it seems that the following comment adds some explanation to what I see in the above screenshot above.

github.com

senaite/senaite.core/blob/8cc6ed232f1efbded49e648abd6b30e63e396022/src/senaite/core/schema/datetimefield.py#L36-L37


      
          NOTE: we need to ensure timzone aware datetime values,
                so that also API calls work

mksd · May 25, 2023, 10:59am

@ruhanga could you confirm that

‘Dates sampled’ are saved as submitted by the client, but the client timezone information is not saved.
‘Dates received’ are saved in the server timezone (UTC we believe) and then are displayed as such, regardless of the client timezone.

?

ruhanga · May 28, 2023, 8:35am

Yes @mksd, that’s correct as far as I could observe on the SENAITE LIMS.

mksd · June 1, 2023, 6:51am

Hi @ramonski, if you confirm that our assessment here is correct: Time Zone configuration on SENAITE LIMS - #8 by mksd

… then we could engage in a consultation with Riding Bytes for getting this fixed.

ramonski · June 1, 2023, 8:59am

Hi Dimitri,

Is this your way at Mekom Solutions of building a serious business relationship with a software vendor?
If so, I would highly recommend investing in a business communication course.

We will look into that as soon as possible and eventually open a PR if this is a bug.

Thanks and best regards
Ramon

mksd · June 1, 2023, 11:01am

I think it was clear through this thread that we were documenting our steps in researching SENAITE’s ability to support a specific use case. Namely, does SENAITE allow clients to be on different timezones? Does its UI reflect this appropriately, etc?

It sounded like a fair question to ask the community.

We felt (and apologies if this is inappropriate) that it wasn’t adequate to book a paid-for consultation to get a bug confirmed. We were rather trying to 1) first confirm that there is indeed a bug and then 2) if confirmed, potentially book a consultation with a service provider to get it fixed.

P.S. I always say, in the name of our company, that the most basic way to give back is at least to present ourselves which we have done (for instance here where it is clear what we attempt to do with SENAITE) and to provide feedback, such as reporting bugs. I am sure that you will find it interesting that in the community where we are most active (OpenMRS), we often do not get either of those two steps from others: many organisations use (and make business) anonymously and do not even bother reporting bugs, sharing their use cases or provide feedback.

ramonski · June 1, 2023, 2:26pm

Hi Dimitri,

Yes agree, this question is perfectly suited to ask the community for.

However, asking for voluntary support is only the case, if you do not ask someone to provide an answer voluntarily.

Especially if it is clearly a question on behalf of one of your paid subscribers.

Anyhow, as your attitudes are clearly different from mine, we probably won’t get any further on this topic.

Therefore, as I already said, we will look into it and if it is something that can be fixed, we will open a PR for it.

Thanks and best regards
Ramon

mksd · June 1, 2023, 3:26pm

Oh I see. Actually we had been looking for members that looked active on the forum (and in the chat room I believe), and I saw that you were active and this is why I mentioned you directly. I didn’t mean to single you out or to bother you and I’ll make sure to not do that again.

Apologies, sorry for the noise and for the trouble.