Introduction -- Header -- Construction -- Accessors Introduction The time_zone_base class is an abstract base class template for representing time zones. Time zones are a set of data and rules that provide information about a time zone. The date_time library handles time_zones by means of a boost::shared_ptr<time_zone_base>. A user's custom time zone class will work in the date_time library by means of this shared_ptr. For convienience, the time_zone_base class is typedef'd as time_zone. All references in the documentation to time_zone, are referring to this typedef. Header The time_zone_base class is defined in the header: #include "boost/date_time/time_zone_base.hpp" Construction A default constructor is provided in the time_zone_base class. There are no private data members in this base class to initialize. Template parameters are time_type (typically posix_time::ptime) and CharT (defaults to char). Accessors All of the accessors listed here are pure virtual functions. Syntax Description string_type dst_zone_abbrev(); Returns the daylight savings abbreviation for the represented time zone. string_type std_zone_abbrev(); Returns the standard abbreviation for the represented time zone. string_type dst_zone_name(); Returns the daylight savings name for the represented time zone. string_type std_zone_name(); Returns the standard name for the represented time zone. bool has_dst(); Returns true if this time zone does not make a daylight savings shift. time_type dst_local_start_time(year_type); The date and time daylight savings time begins in given year. time_type dst_local_end_time(year_type); The date and time daylight savings time ends in given year. time_duration_type base_utc_offset(); The amount of time offset from UTC (typically in hours). time_duration_type dst_offset(); The amount of time shifted during daylight savings. std::string to_posix_string(); Returns a posix time zone string representation of this time_zone_base object. For a detailed description of a posix time zone string see posix_time_zone.