`node-mssql` v6 incorrectly stores Dates

[pburrows]

Issue type:
[x ] question
[x] bug report

Database system/driver:
[x] mssql

TypeORM version:
[x] latest

Steps to reproduce or a small repository showing the problem:

I am trying to write a date, devoid of timezone information (a UTC date), to my SQL Server database. I created a test project to try it out.

(NOTE: I am in the eastern timezone)

Here are some of the ways I am trying to write the date '12/1/2018' to the database:

The most basic:

const test2: TestTable = new TestTable();
test2.testInfo = 'new Date(2018, 11, 1)';
test2.testDate = new Date(2018, 11, 1);
await TestDb.GETMANAGER().save(test2);

writes the following record to the database:

This date is off by 24 hours!!!!

The SQL generated by TypeOrm is this:

INSERT INTO "TestTable"("testInfo", "testDate") OUTPUT INSERTED."tableId" VALUES (@0, @1) -- PARAMETERS: [{"value":"new Date(2018, 11, 1)","type":"nvarchar","params":[]},{"value":"2018-12-01T05:00:00.000Z","type":"datetime2","params":[]}]

Which, if you put the parameters into the query you get this sql statement:

INSERT INTO "TestTable"("testInfo", "testDate") OUTPUT INSERTED."tableId" VALUES ('new Date(2018, 11, 1)', '2018-12-01T05:00:00.000Z') 

If you run THAT SQL Statement in SQL Server Management Studio (by copy and pasting), it writes this record to the database:

Which isn't exactly what I am looking for, but is wrong in a way I understand (it added my local timezone to the date string it generated) and that I can account for.

Why is the data written to the database different when the SQL Statement is run manually vs run by TypeORM?

How do I correctly write a UTC date to the database?

[pburrows]

With some experimenting, 1 second after midnight will write a date of November 30th, but 1 MINUTE after midnight, will write the date of December 1st:

test2.testDate = new Date(2018, 11, 1, 0, 1, 0, 0); // midnight + 1 minute

writes:

2018-12-01 00:01:00.0000000

and:

test2.testDate = new Date(2018, 11, 1, 0, 0, 1, 0); // midnight + 1 second

writes:

2018-11-30 00:00:01.0000000

You can see that date jumps from November 30th to December 1st at the 38 seconds after midnight mark:

for (let i = 0; i < 60; i++) {
    const test2: TestTable = new TestTable();
    test2.testInfo = `new Date(2018, 11, 1, 0, 0, ${i}, 0)`;
    test2.testDate = new Date(2018, 11, 1, 0, 0, i, 0);
    await TestDb.GETMANAGER().save(test2);
    
}

[pburrows]

(sorry for all the comments)

You can download my test project here if you would like to try yourself without setting up a new project.

[amaranth]

After #3162 this is the only remaining issue blocking unit tests from passing on SQL Server.

[zaksesti-ns8]

I'm not sure about the exact issue you are running into but are you aware that mysql (driver) will attempt to do timezone conversion automatically. Perhaps this is contributing to the confusion. There is a timezone option which defaults to local. I have no idea in what case someone would find that helpful but that's the default. If you set timezone: 'Z' then it will default to UTC.
https://github.com/typeorm/typeorm/blob/master/docs/connection-options.md#mysql--mariadb-connection-options

[pleerock]

As I remember you should have your timezone to set to UTC to prevent all different issues. Adding @chriskalmar

@pburrows can you please review #1717 and all related issues?

[pburrows]

I looked at those issues and they don't seem to fix the problem.

I can definitely reproduce it every time with the latest code using the project I linked. It happens with datetime2 columns specifically. datetime columns don't exhibit the issue.

I am trying to narrow down where the problem is. I've narrowed it down so far to be somewhere in the SqlServerQueryRunner.ts, in the query() method. I am trying to reproduce the issue using just mssql driver, using the techniques in the query() method to do the query in hopes of pinpointing the issue.

I'll post again when I can narrow it down.

[pleerock]

@pburrows did you set a local timezone to UTC?

[pburrows]

(oops! didn't mean to hit close!)

[pburrows]

I tried setting process.env.TZ, but it didn't really make a difference.

I did not try changing the timezone on my OS, cause that does not seem like a reasonable solution. Heh.

[pleerock]

just try to, just to see if it works =)

[pburrows]

Heading for vacation in a bit, but I'll give it a shot when I get back.

My guess is that I will have the opposite problem of trying to make a non-UTC date to reproduce the issue with (because dates, by default, use the host's timezone, so they will be UTC, so nothing will need to be translated).

So it would be hard to reproduce this bug (or even notice it!) if your OS date happens to be UTC.

[pburrows]

I ran the test with my local operating system timezone set to UTC and it worked as expected:

Setting my local operating system to any other time zone (I tried -1 (Azores), -2 (UCT-2), -4 (Salvador) and it... started working right!

Wait, what?

I was only testing with a specific date, December 1st, midnight + 28 seconds:

But why did that start working? I ran my full test again (which writes December 1st midnight +0 through 59 seconds) and the results have changed:

(compare this screenshot with the one I took when I first reported the issue)

Notice now only midnight and midnight + 1 second are off by 24 hours. All the other dates are correct.

It is still wrong, of course. I can run SQL Server Profiler and see that the query is being sent to SQL Server incorrectly.

Here is the query being sent to SQL Server for midnight +1 second:

exec sp_executesql @statement=N'INSERT INTO "TestTable"("testInfo", "testDate") OUTPUT INSERTED."tableId" VALUES (@0, @1)',@params=N'@0 nvarchar(33), @1 datetime2(7)',@0=N'new Date(2018, 11, 1, 0, 0, 1, 0)',@1='2018-11-30 00:00:01'

Notice the incorrect November 30th date being passed.

Here is the query being sent for midnight +2 seconds:

exec sp_executesql @statement=N'INSERT INTO "TestTable"("testInfo", "testDate") OUTPUT INSERTED."tableId" VALUES (@0, @1)',@params=N'@0 nvarchar(33), @1 datetime2(7)',@0=N'new Date(2018, 11, 1, 0, 0, 2, 0)',@1='2018-12-01 00:00:02'

Notice that the date being passed is now correctly December 1st.

I have had no luck figuring out where in TypeOrm it is going wrong. I've gone through the code in SqlServerQueryRunner, logged the values of the query() method at every step, and nothing seems wrong.

I tried to duplicate what SqlServerQueryRunner.query() is doing using the straight-up mssql driver, and have not been able to reproduce the issue (it writes the correct value at every step).

Now, that the point at which the date gets messed up has changed (after changing my local timezone), I am even more confused. I'll try digging through the connection settings next, maybe. Though this issue is definitely not something obvious.