How do I save DateTime from Flutter's DateTimePicker and write to Firebase as a Timestamp

Question

I am using the DatePicker as below to allow user to set Date. I want to save this selected date and time to Firebase as a Timestamp. How do I do that?

Thanks.

showDatePicker(
          context: context,
          initialDate: widget.isUpdating
              ? _currentExpense.createdAt.toDate()
              : _dateTime, //_currentExpense.createdAt == null,
          firstDate: DateTime(2001),
          lastDate: DateTime.now())
      .then((date) {
    _dateTime = date;
    setState(() {
      dateTimeText = _getDateString(date);
    });
  });

Solution

You can use dateTimeObject.millisecondsSinceEpoch to convert it to an int and save that to your db.

And then use DateTime.fromMillisecondsSinceEpoch(msIntFromServer) to convert it back to a DateTime object.

Or if you want even more accuracy you can do it in microseconds.

https://api.flutter.dev/flutter/dart-core/DateTime-class.html

Comments

[hermie_brown]

Thanks! So just to clarify, Timestamp is basically saved as/in milliseconds or microseconds?

[hermie_brown]

Also, using your suggestion means I have to save _currentExpense.createdAt as an int in my DB and not as a Timestamp? In my setState(), I did, _currentExpense.createdAt = _dateTime.millisecondsSinceEpoch as Timestamp; but it didn't successful save to DB as it expected a Timestamp and I am sending an int as the value.

[Er1]

@hermie_brown I'm just saying you could save it as an int. If you already use a specified format for Timestamp in your db you should take a look at the docs from firebase or the library you're using on how to format the timestamp to that format.