Documentation Workfront Adobe Workfront Fusion

Date and time functions

Last update: April 21, 2025

Topics:
Workfront Fusion

Variables

now

Gets the current time in YYYY-MM-DD-hhss format.

timestamp

Gets the current time as a Unix timestamp.

Functions

addSeconds (date; number)

Returns a new date as a result of adding a given number of seconds to a date. To subtract seconds, enter a negative number.

Examples:

addSeconds(2016-12-08T15:55:57.536Z;2)

Returns 2016-12-08T15:55:59.536Z
addSeconds(2016-12-08T15:55:57.536Z;-2)

Returns 2016-12-08T15:55:55.536Z

addMinutes (date; number)

Returns a new date as a result of adding a given number of minutes to a date. To subtract minutes, enter a negative number.

Examples:

addMinutes(2016-12-08T15:55:57.536Z;2)

Returns 2016-12-08T15:57:57.536Z
addMinutes(2016-12-08T15:55:57.536Z;-2)

Returns 2016-12-08T15:53:57.536Z

addHours (date; number)

Returns a new date as a result of adding a given number of hours to a date. To subtract hours, enter a negative number.

Examples:

addHours(2016-12-08T15:55:57.536Z; 2)

Returns 2016-12-08T17:55:57.536Z
addHours(2016-12-08T15:55:57.536Z;-2)

Returns 2016-12-08T13:55:57.536Z

addDays (date; number)

Returns a new date as a result of adding a given number of days to a date. To subtract days, enter a negative number.

Examples:

addDays(2016-12-08T15:55:57.536Z;2)

Returns 2016-12-10T15:55:57.536Z
addDays(2016-12-08T15:55:57.536Z;-2)

Returns 2016-12-6T15:55:57.536Z

addMonths (date; number)

Returns a new date as a result of adding a given number of months to a date. To subtract months, enter a negative number.

Examples:

addMonths(2016-08-08T15:55:57.536Z;2)

Returns 2016-10-08T15:55:57.536Z
addMonths(2016-08-08T15:55:57.536Z;-2)

Returns 2016-06-08T15:55:57.536Z

addYears (date; number)

Returns a new date as a result of adding a given number of years to a date. To subtract years, enter a negative number.

Examples:

addYears(2016-08-08T15:55:57.536Z;2)

Returns 2018-08-08T15:55:57.536Z
addYears(2016-12-08T15:55:57.536Z; -2)

Returns 2014-08-08T15:55:57.536Z

setSecond (date; number)

This function returns a new date with the seconds specified in parameters.

Specify a number from 0 to 59. If the number is outside of that range, the function returns a second from the previous minute (for a negative number) or subsequent minute (for a positive number).

If you need to specify a number outside the range, we recommend that you use addSeconds, as described above in the section addSeconds (date; number).

Examples:

setSecond(2015-10-07T11:36:39.138Z;10)

Returns 2015-10-07T11:36:10.138Z
setSecond(2015-10-07T11:36:39.138Z; 61)

Returns 2015-10-07T11:37:01.138Z

setMinute (date; number)

This function returns a new date with the minutes specified in parameters.

Specify a number from 0 to 59. If the number is outside of that range, the function returns a minute from the previous hour (for a negative number) or subsequent hour (for a positive number).

If you need to specify a number outside the range, we recommend that you use addMinutes, as described above in addMinutes (date; number).

Examples:

setMinute(2015-10-07T11:36:39.138Z;10)

Returns 2015-10-07T11:10:39.138Z
setMinute(2015-10-07T11:36:39.138Z;61)

Returns 2015-10-07T12:01:39.138Z

setHour (date; number)

This function returns a new date with the hour specified in parameters.

Specify a number from 0 to 23. If the number is outside this range, the function returns an hour from the previous day (for a negative number) or subsequent day (for a positive number).

If you need to specify a number outside the range, we recommend that you use addHours, as described above in addHours (date; number).

Examples:

setHour(2015-08-07T11:36:39.138Z;6)

Returns 2015-08-07T06:36:39.138Z
setHour(2015-08-07T11:36:39.138;-6)

Returns 2015-08-06T18:36:39.138Z

setDay (date; number/name of the day in English)

This function returns a new date with the day specified in parameters.

You can use this function to set the day of the week, with Sunday as 1 and Saturday as 7. If the you specify a number from 1 to 7, the resulting date is within the current (Sunday-to-Saturday) week. If the number is outside of that range, the function returns a day from the previous week (for a negative number) or subsequent week (for a positive number).

If you need to specify a number outside the range, we recommend that you use addDays, as described above in addDays (date; number).

Examples:

setDay(2018-06-27T11:36:39.138Z;Monday)

Returns 2018-06-25T11:36:39.138Z
setDay(2018-06-27T11:36:39.138Z;1)

Returns 2018-06-24T11:36:39.138Z
setDay(2018-06-27T11:36:39.138Z;7)

Returns 2018-06-30T11:36:39.138Z

setDate (date; number)

This function returns a new date with the day of the month specified in parameters.

Specify a number from 1 to 31. If the number is outside of this range, the function returns a day from the previous month (for a negative number) or subsequent month (for a positive number).

Examples:

setDate(2015-08-07T11:36:39.138Z;5)

Returns 2015-08-05T11:36:39.138Z
setDate(2015-08-07T11:36:39.138Z;32)

Returns 2015-09-01T11:36:39.138Z

setMonth (date; number/name of the month in English)

This function returns a new date with the month specified in parameters.

Specify a number from 1 to 12. If the number is outside of this range, the function returns the month in the previous year (for a negative number) or subsequent year (for a positive number).

Examples:

setMonth(2015-08-07T11:36:39.138Z;5)

Returns 2015-05-07T11:36:39.138Z
setMonth(2015-08-07T11:36:39.138Z;17)

Returns 2016-05-07T11:36:39.138Z
setMonth(2015-08-07T11:36:39.138Z;january)

Returns 2015-01-07T12:36:39.138Z

setYear (date; number)

Returns a new date with the year specified in parameters.

Example:

setYear(2015-08-07T11:36:39.138Z;2017)

Returns 2017-08-07T11:36:39.138Z

formatDate (date; format; [timezone])

Use this function when you have a Date value, such as 12-10-2021 20:30, that you want to format as a Text value, such as Dec 10, 2021 8:30 PM.

This is useful, for example, when you need to change the date format of one app or webservice to that of a connected app or web service in the same scenario.

For more information, see Date and Text in the article Item data types.

Parameters

Parameter

Expected data type*

What it does

date

Date

Converts a Date value to a Text value.

format

Text

Lets you specify a format using date/time formatting tokens. For more information, see Tokens for date and time formatting.

Example: DD.MM.YYYY HH:mm

timezone

Text

(Optional) Lets you specify the timezone used for the conversion.

For the list of recognized timezones, see the "TZ database name" column in the Wikipedia List of tz database time zones. Only the values listed in this column are recognized by the function as a valid timezone. Any other value is ignored and the Scenarios timezone specified in your Profile is used instead.

If you omit this parameter, the Scenarios timezone specified in your Profile settings is applied.

Example: Europe/Prague, UTC

If different type is provided, type coercion is applied. For more information, see Type coercion.

Return value and type

The formatDate function returns a text representation of the given Date value according to the specified format and timezone. The data type is Text.

Examples: The Scenario and Web timezone were both set to Europe/Prague in these examples.

Date time function example

formatDate(1. Date created;MM/DD/YYYY)

Returns 10/01/2018
formatDate(1. Date created; YYYY-MM-DD hh:mm A)

Returns 2018-10-01 09:32 AM
formatDate(1. Date created;DD.MM.YYYY HH:mm;UTC)

Returns 01.10.2018 07:32
formatDate(now;DD.MM.YYYY HH:mm)

Returns 19.03.2019 15:30

parseDate (text; format; [timezone])

Use this function when you have a Text value representing a date (such as 12-10-2019 20:30 or Aug 18, 2019 10:00 AM) and you want to convert (parse) it to a Date value (a binary machine readable representation). For more information, see Date and Text in the article Item data types.

Parameters

The second column indicates the expected type. If different type is provided, type coercion is applied. For more information, see Type coercion.

Parameter

Expected data type*

What it does

text

Text

Converts a Date value to a Text value.

format

Text

Lets you specify a format using date/time formatting tokens. For more information, see Tokens for date and time formatting.

Example: DD.MM.YYYY HH:mm

timezone

Text

(Optional) Lets you specify the timezone used for the conversion.

For the list of recognized timezones, see the "TZ database name" column in the Wikipedia List of tz database time zones. Only the values listed in this column are recognized by the function as a valid timezone. Any other value is ignored and the Scenarios timezone specified in your Profile is used instead.

If you omit this parameter, the Scenarios timezone specified in your Profile settings is applied.

Example: Europe/Prague, UTC

If different type is provided, type coercion is applied. For more information, see Type coercion.

Return value and type

This function converts a text string to a date, according to the format and timezone that you specify. The data type of the value is Date.

Examples: In the following examples, the returned Date value is expressed according to ISO 8601, but the data type of the result is Date.

parseDate(2016-12-28;YYYY-MM-DD)

Returns 2016-12-28T00:00:00.000Z
parseDate(2016-12-28 16:03;YYYY-MM-DD HH:mm)

Returns 2016-12-28T16:03:00.000Z
parseDate(2016-12-28 04:03 pm; YYYY-MM-DD hh:mm a)

Returns 2016-12-28T16:03:06.000Z
parseDate(1482940986;X)

Returns 2016-12-28T16:03:06.000Z

dateDifference (Date1; Date2; Unit)

Returns a number representing the difference in the two dates, expressed in the specified unit.

Date2 is subtracted from Date1.

Use one of the following time values for the unit parameter:

milliseconds
seconds
minutes
hours
days
weeks
months

If no unit is specified, the function returns the difference in milliseconds.

Examples:

dateDifference(2021-05-11T18:10:00.000Z;2021-05-11T18:00:00.000Z)

Returns 600,000
dateDifference(2021-05-11T18:10:00.000Z;2021-05-11T18:00:00.000Z;hours)

Returns 4
dateDifference2021-06-11T18:10:00.000Z;2021-05-11T18:00:00.000Z;months)

Returns 1

Additional examples

How to calculate n-th day of week in month

This section is adapted for Workfront Fusion from the Exceljet web page that explains how to get the nth day of week in a month.

If you need to calculate a date corresponding to n-th day of week in month (for example, first Tuesday, third Friday, and so on), you can use the following formula:

Calculate nth day

{{addDays(setDate(1.date; 1); 1.n * 7 - formatDate(addDays(setDate(1.date; 1); "-" + 1.dow); "E"))}}

The formula contains the following items:

1.n

n-th day:

1 for 1st Tuesday
2 for 2nd Tuesday
3 for 3rd Tuesday, and so on

2.dow

day of week:

1 for Monday
2 for Tuesday
3 for Wednesday
4 for Thursday
5 for Friday
6 for Saturday
7 for Sunday

1.date

The date determines the month. To calculate n-th day of week in current month use the now variable.

In case you want to calculate only one specific case, for example, every second Wednesday, you can replace the items 1.n and 2.dow in the formula with corresponding numbers. For the second Wednesday in the current month, you would use the following values:

1.n = 2
1.dow = 3
1.date = now

Nth day variable value

Explanation:

setDate(now;1) returns first of current month
formatDate(....;E) returns day of week (1, 2, … 6)

How to calculate days between dates

One possibility is to employ the following expression:

Calculate days between dates

{{round((2.value - 1.value) / 1000 / 60 / 60 / 24)}}

NOTE

Values of D1and D2 have be Date type values. If they are String type values (for example, 20.10.2018), use the parseDate() function to convert them to Date type values.
The round() function is used for cases when one of the dates falls within the daylight savings time period and the other does not. In these cases, the difference in hours is one hour less or more. You can divide it by 24 for a non-integer result. You lose an hour-Daylight Savings. Round flattens it so you don’t have a percentage

How to calculate last day/millisecond of month

When you specify a date range, for example in a search module, if the range spans the whole previous month as a closed interval (the interval that includes both its limit points), you need to calculate the last day of the month.

2019-09-01 ≤ D ≤ 2019-09-30

The formula below shows one way how to calculate last day of the previous month:

Last day of previous month

{{addDays(setDate(now; 1); -1)}}

In some cases, you need to calculate not only the last day of month, but literally its last millisecond:

2019-09-01T00:00:00.000Z ≤ D ≤ 2019-09-30T23:59:59.999Z

This formula shows one way how to calculate last millisecond of the previous month:

Last millisecond of previous month

{{parseDate(parseDate(formatDate(now; "YYYYMM01"); "YYYYMMDD"; "UTC") - 1; "x")}}

If you need the result to use your timezone setting, omit the UTC argument:

Omit UTC

{{parseDate(parseDate(formatDate(now; "YYYYMM01"); "YYYYMMDD") - 1; "x")}}

However, it is preferable to use half-open interval instead (the interval that excludes one of its limit points), specifying the first day of the following month instead and replacing the “less or equal than” operator with “less than” as follows:

2019-09-01 ≤ D < 2019-10-01

2019-09-01T00:00:00.000Z ≤ D < 2019-10-01T00:00:00.000Z