Datetime and Decimal Format Requirements

Windows Regional Settings

MES supports the default settings for datetimes and the decimal separator for any of the Windows regional formats. This is because the MES client middleware proxy converts regional datetimes to universal time and any decimal separator to a period (.) before the call is processed by the middleware.

However, changing the datetime format or the decimal separator from their default Windows regional format is not supported. If custom formats are used, datetimes and doubles might not be stored in the MES database with expected values or be displayed properly in client applications.

Custom Applications That Pass Datetimes and Decimal Separators in Strings

Custom applications that pass datetimes in strings using the MES Stateless API in any format other than according to the ISO 8601 standard must pass them in the universal format—that is, yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss (note that MES does not support milliseconds). Also, doubles should use a period as the decimal separator. Examples would include passing datetimes and decimal separators in XML strings directly to the middleware using the Stateless API DirectAccess methods.