Re: [Boost-users] [date_time][serialization] Fast persistence of boost::date_time::ptime

Subject: Re: [Boost-users] [date_time][serialization] Fast persistence of boost::date_time::ptime
From: Jeff Garland (azswdude_at_[hidden])
Date: 2010-01-28 08:20:09

Igor R wrote:
>> However on this glance this doesn’t seem possible non-intrusively. Perhaps
>> I’ve missed something, perhaps there’s a third way – I would be grateful if
>> any could share any ideas.
> 
> Yes, it was already discussed here:
> http://groups.google.com/group/boost-list/browse_thread/thread/d799ca83118501e4/04b184b4c7af8c0b?show_docid=04b184b4c7af8c0b
> 
> I believe nothing changed since then.

There's not a direct way to get at the internal representation of a ptime, 
which varies based on how the library is compiled (64 or 96 bits depending on 
settings -- the thread above isn't completely accurate on this point).  If 
it's critically important, of course, you could modify the source directly to 
fit your particular setup and provide the internal representation for your app 
to serialize (add a to_int64 for example).  As a general rule, however, it's 
unwise to store these values as integers since future versions of the library 
might, for example, expand the epoch range and hence these serialized values 
wouldn't be compatible -- that, and the aforementioned fact that the internal 
size isn't fixed are a couple of the reasons there isn't direct access.

Jeff