date and time field behavior in MS CRM

For CRM versions earlier than CRM Online 2015 Update 1 and CRM 2016 (on-premises), you cannot define the behavior of the date and time values. By default, the date and time values are stored as  UserLocal.

But in latest version,  behavior of date and time field is classified as 3 types.

UserLocal:

·         This behavior always stores the date and time in UTC format. While retrieving, it will returns date and time in UTC format.

·         When user trying to update date and time, if user enters date in UTC, system will update the value as it is or else it will convert entered date and time into UTC format then stores.

·         This behavior is used for system attributes like CreatedOn and ModifiedOn, and cannot be changed. You should use this behavior for custom attributes where you want to store date and time values with the time zone information

DateOnly:

·         This behavior will stores date only and time will be always stores as 12:00AM (00:00:00).

·         While retrieving the value also, time will always carries as 12:00AM.

·         This behavior should be used for custom attributes that store birthdays and anniversaries, where the time information is not required

TimeZoneIndependent:

·         Stores the date and time in system regardless of user time zone.

·         While updating the date and time also, it will stores date and time what user enters as it is.

·         This behavior should be used for attributes that store information such as check in and check out time for hotel

If you do not specify the behavior while creating a date and time attribute, the attribute is created with the UserLocal behavior by default

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