Which date format should we support?

[carlosthe19916]

There are 2 scenarions:

Output data

This is the data that the server generates and exposes through the API. I believe we should use ISO 8601 as it is the format used on the web.

Even if we think we should use a different format different from ISO 8601, the OUTPUT data from the server should be only ONE and only ONE, no multiple format formats.

Input data: data send to the server through the REST API

• Import Advisories/SBOM json files: We should be able to ingest the dates of those files in the format they were created and defined by their specifications
• Filters that require dates: e.g. GET /advisories?q="created>=DATE". My suggestion is to start with ISO 8601 format as this is the format used in the web.
  • Date and time: 2011-10-05T14:48:00.000Z
  • Only date: 2018-04-13

[ctron]

I guess what you mean is RFC3339. Which is a sub-set of what ISO 8601 allows. From what I understand, most of the documents we're working with are use RFC3339 as well.

ISO 8601 allows for variants like:

• 2009-W53-7
• 2009-W53-7T134730
• 200704051430
• 2024-102

It can even have 6 digit years.

Have fun exploring: https://ijmacd.github.io/rfc3339-iso8601/

[carlosthe19916]

Thanks for point that out. Yes I meant RFC 3339 format. I suggest using it as it widely used in the web. But open to any other idea for sure

[bobmcwhirter]

I'd also love relative timescales when querying. created_date > yesterday

[carlosthe19916]

For the specific use case of dates on query parameters. I don't have anything against supporting multiple formats, as many as we want. For the UI, RFC 3339 would be lovely.

[jcrossley3]

I think #163 covers everything requested in here.