The Invoke $ASCTIM to Convert Binary Time to ASCII String routine calls the system service $ASCTIM to convert a binary date and time value, returning the ASCII string using the semantics of the caller's string. Format LIB$SYS_ASCTIM [resultant-length] ,time-string [,user-time] [,flags]
1 – Returns
OpenVMS usage:cond_value type: longword (unsigned) access: write only mechanism: by value
2 – Arguments
resultant-length OpenVMS usage:word_unsigned type: word (unsigned) access: write only mechanism: by reference Number of bytes written into time-string, not counting padding in the case of a fixed-length string. The resultant-length argument contains the address of an unsigned word integer that is this number. If the input string is truncated to the size specified in the time-string descriptor, resultant-length is set to this size. Therefore, resultant-length can always be used by the calling program to access a valid substring of time-string. time-string OpenVMS usage:time_name type: character string access: write only mechanism: by descriptor Destination string into which LIB$SYS_ASCTIM writes the ASCII time string. The time-string argument contains the address of a descriptor pointing to the destination string. user-time OpenVMS usage:date_time type: quadword (unsigned) access: read only mechanism: by reference Value that LIB$SYS_ASCTIM converts to ASCII string form. The user-time argument contains the address of a signed quadword integer that is this value. If 0 or no address is specified, the current system date and time are returned. A positive value represents an absolute time. A negative value represents a delta time. Delta times must be less than 10,000 days. flags OpenVMS usage:mask_longword type: longword (unsigned) access: read only mechanism: by reference Conversion indicator specifying which date and time fields LIB$SYS_ASCTIM should return. The flags argument is the address of an unsigned bit mask that contains this conversion indicator. A value of 1 causes only the hour, minute, second, and hundredths of a second to be returned, depending on the length of the buffer. A value of 0 (the default) causes the full date and time to be returned, depending on the length of the buffer. The results of specifying some possible combinations for the values of the flags and time-string arguments are shown below: Time- Time String Flags Value Length Value Information Returned Absolute 23 0 Date and time Absolute 12 0 Date Absolute 11 1 Time Delta 16 0 Days and time Delta 11 1 Time The flags argument is passed to LIB$SYS_ASCTIM by reference and is changed to value for use by $ASCTIM.