Clock component: MakeInstantFromParts method works with local timezone instead of UTC

[eutill]

Hello dear community,
I have observe what appears to me an unexpected behaviour with the Clock component, specifically with the MakeInstantFromParts method.

I need to convert a given UTC date/time string (YYYYMMDDhhmmss) to a Clock instant or, if that doesn't work, a Unix epoch.
The data I'm working with originates from an embedded device with limited resources so I cannot convert it there.
By using a UTC timestamp, I had hoped that I wouldn't need to deal with time zones and DST.
So, I chose the MakeInstantFromParts method because it seemed to fit my intention - its description says "Returns an instant in time specified [...] in UTC".
However, I observed that in my case, it interprets the given information with my local time zone and DST. I suspect that this behaviour fits most users' needs.
Is there a way to circumvent this issue without having to deal with my local time zone? Or is there a possibility that a new method "MakeInstantFromPartsUTC" could be implemented?

In order to visualize this for you, I created the following blocks:

When I enter the resulting Unix timestamp into an online converter tool, I see that it corresponds to the original time, but in my local timezone (UTC+2).

Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks!

[ABG]

Start from

Faq Section: Clock

Tutorials: Guide - How to Use the Clock - Alaqmar Bohori datetime formats Samples: Countdown timers How to get UTC with datetime format Z Multi-day timer display - Ergin Advanced: How to keep app running after screen goes off - Taifun An Instant is not a Duration is not a milliseconds - ABG, TimAI2, Anke You can't store Instants in TinyDB - @Taifun Advanced DayLight Savings Time Time Zone Investigations How does AI2 know my Time Zone and DST? - ewpatton Feb 2025 Epoch Properties…

There are several discussions there about UTC.

[eutill]

Thank you for the link. Using one of the articles referenced there, I was able to obtain a different representation of the same problem that helps my point:

This way, you can see that MakeInstantFromParts returns the requested time, but referenced to the local time zone and not to UTC, as indicated by the block's description.

Would you agree that this is a wrong, or at best misleading description of what the MakeInstantFromParts module is doing?

And regarding my use case: I have looked around and couldn't find a way to do this conversion from UTC straightforward without having my local timezone get in my way... Is there a way to do this properly without a nasty workaround?

[TIMAI2]

Get the timezone/DST adjustment from the instant, and adjust the milliseconds output accordingly...?

[ABG]

@eutill

way... Is there a way to do this properly without a nasty workaround

That depends on your definition of nasty.

Does it include taking the local Z format value, breaking out its hh and mm parts, and adding (subtracting?) them to the current Instant Hours and Minutes?

The nastiness could be hidden in a value procedure

[ABG]

@eutill

Would you agree that this is a wrong, or at best misleading description of what the MakeInstantFromParts module is doing?

Yes, I agree.

[Taifun]

@eutill

Is there a way to do this properly

I did a search in the community for you and found

UTC ISO 8061 to standard time

This is what I created. Nothing fancy. Data from site seems "standard" to the format 2024-01-24T14:00:00-05:00 [convertTime_blocks]

Taifun

[eutill]

@ABG , @TIMAI2 , @Taifun :
thank you for your valuable suggestions. I had hoped that I wouldn't need to care about my local timezone, but the workaround isn't that nasty after all...
Best
eutill