Documentation Analytics Implementation Guide

Adobe plug-in: getTimeParting

Last update: June 23, 2025

Topics:
Appmeasurement Implementation

CREATED FOR:

Admin
Developer

IMPORTANT

This plug-in is provided by Adobe Consulting as a courtesy to help you get more value out of Adobe Analytics. Adobe Customer Care does not provide support with this plug-in, including installation or troubleshooting. If you require help with this plug-in, contact your organization’s Adobe Account Team. They can arrange a meeting with a consultant for assistance.

The getTimeParting plug-in allows you to capture the details of the time when any measurable activity takes place on your site. This plug-in is valuable when you want to breakdown metrics by any repeatable division of time over a given date range. For example, you can compare conversion rates between two different days of the week, such as all Sundays vs. all Thursdays. You can also compare periods of the day, such as all mornings vs. all evenings.

Analysis Workspace provides similar, out-of-the-box dimensions that are formatted slightly differently than this plug-in. See time parting dimensions in the Analyze user guide for more information. Some organizations find that Analysis Workspace’s out-of-the-box dimensions are sufficient.

IMPORTANT

Version 4.0+ of this plug-in is significantly different than earlier versions. Adobe highly recommends implementing this plug-in “from scratch”. Code referencing the plug-in before version 4.0 is not compatible with the current version of this plug-in.

Install the plug-in using the Web SDK extension

Adobe offers an extension that allows you to use most commonly-used plug-ins with the Web SDK.

Log in to Adobe Experience Platform Data Collection using your AdobeID credentials.
Click Tags on the left, then click the desired tag property.
Click Extensions on the left, then click the Catalog tab
Locate and install the Common Web SDK Plugins extension.
Click Data Elements on the left, then click the desired data element.
Set the desired data element name with the following configuration:
- Extension: Common Web SDK Plugins
- Data Element: getTimeParting
Set the Time Zone parameter on the right.
Save and publish the changes to the data element.

Install the plug-in manually implementing the Web SDK

This plug-in is not yet supported for use within a manual implementation of the Web SDK.

Install the plug-in using the Adobe Analytics extension

Adobe offers an extension that allows you to use most commonly-used plug-ins with Adobe Analytics.

Log in to Adobe Experience Platform Data Collection using your AdobeID credentials.
Click the desired tag property.
Go to the Extensions tab, then click on the Catalog button
Install and publish the Common Analytics Plugins extension
If you haven’t already, create a rule labeled “Initialize Plug-ins” with the following configuration:
- Condition: None
- Event: Core – Library Loaded (Page Top)
Add an action to the above rule with the following configuration:
- Extension: Common Analytics Plugins
- Action Type: Initialize getTimeParting
Save and publish the changes to the rule.

Install the plug-in using custom code editor

If you do not want to use the Common Analytics Plugins plug-in extension, you can use the custom code editor.

Log in to Adobe Experience Platform Data Collection using your AdobeID credentials.
Click on the desired property.
Go to the Extensions tab, then click the Configure button under the Adobe Analytics extension.
Expand the Configure tracking using custom code accordion, which reveals the Open Editor button.
Open the custom code editor and paste the plug-in code provided below into the edit window.
Save and publish the changes to the Analytics extension.

Install the plug-in using AppMeasurement

Copy and paste the following code anywhere in the AppMeasurement file after the Analytics tracking object is instantiated (using s_gi). Preserving comments and version numbers of the code in your implementation helps Adobe with troubleshooting any potential issues.

/******************************************* BEGIN CODE TO DEPLOY *******************************************/
/* Adobe Consulting Plugin: getTimeParting v6.3 (No Prerequisites Needed) */
function getTimeParting(t){var c=t;if("-v"===t)return{plugin:"getTimeParting",version:"6.3"};a:{if("undefined"!==typeof window.s_c_il){var a=0;for(var b;a<window.s_c_il.length;a++)if(b=window.s_c_il[a],b._c&&"s_c"===b._c){a=b;break a}}a=void 0}"undefined"!==typeof a&&(a.contextData.getTimeParting="6.3");c=document.documentMode?void 0:c||"Etc/GMT";a=(new Date).toLocaleDateString("en-US",{timeZone:c,minute:"numeric",hour:"numeric",weekday:"long",day:"numeric",year:"numeric",month:"long"});a=/([a-zA-Z]+).*?([a-zA-Z]+).*?([0-9]+).*?([0-9]+)(.*?)([0-9])(.*)/.exec(a);return"year="+a[4]+" | month="+a[2]+" | date="+a[3]+" | day="+a[1]+" | time="+(a[6]+a[7])};
/******************************************** END CODE TO DEPLOY ********************************************/

Use the plug-in

The getTimeParting function uses the following argument:

t (Optional but recommended, string): The name of the time zone to convert the visitor’s local time to. Defaults to UTC/GMT time. See List of TZ database time zones on Wikipedia for a complete list of valid values.

Common valid values include:

"America/New_York" for Eastern Time
"America/Chicago" for Central Time
"America/Denver" for Mountain Time
"America/Los_Angeles" for Pacific Time

Calling this function returns a string that contains the following delimited by a pipe (|):

The current year
The current month
The day of the month
The day of the week
The current time (AM/PM)

Examples

// Use the following code if the visitor resides in Paris, France
s.eVar8 = getTimeParting("Europe/Paris");

// Use the following code if the visitor resides in San Jose, California
s.eVar17 = getTimeParting("America/Los_Angeles");

// Use the following code if the visitor resides in Ghana.
// Note that Ghana is in GMT time, the default time zone that the plug-in uses with no argument
s.eVar22 = getTimeParting();

// Internet Explorer only returns the visitor's local time. Use this conditional statement to accommodate IE visitors
if(!document.documentMode) s.eVar39 = getTimeParting("America/New_York");
else s.eVarX = "Internet Explorer Visitors";

// Given a visitor from Denver Colorado visits a site on August 31, 2020 at 9:15 AM
// Returns the string value "year=2020 | month=August | date=31 | day=Friday | time=6:15 PM"
s.eVar10 = getTimeParting("Europe/Athens");

// Returns the string value "year=2020 | month=August | date=31 | day=Friday | time=6:15 AM"
s.eVar11 = getTimeParting("America/Nome");

// Returns the string value "year=2020 | month=August | date=31 | day=Friday | time=8:45 PM"
s.eVar12 = getTimeParting("Asia/Calcutta");

// Returns the string value "year=2020 | month=September | date=1 | day=Saturday | time=1:15 AM"
s.eVar13 = getTimeParting("Australia/Sydney");

Version History

6.3 (March 19, 2021)

Added version number as context data.

6.2 (November 5, 2019)

Small bug fixes
Reduced overall code size

6.1 (November 26, 2018)

Fix for Internet Explorer browsers. They can return the time, but in only the visitor’s local time.

6.0 (August 14, 2018)

Complete rewrite to accommodate international standards. Now converts daylight savings and all time zones appropriately.

5.0 (April 17, 2018)

Point Release (recompiled, smaller code size)
Removed the need for the tpDST parameter, since daylight savings start/end dates are now detected automatically

CAUTION

Previous versions of this plug-in did not accommodate all years in the future. If you use a previous version of this plug-in, Adobe strongly recommends upgrading to the latest version to avoid JavaScript errors and data loss. If upgrading this plug-in is not feasible, make sure that the s._tpdst variable in the plug-in code contains the appropriate years in the future.

4.0 (August 22, 2016)

Provides a brand new solution and now includes year, month, and date information.

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