Church-Music/legacy-site/documentation/md-files/DATE_TIMEZONE_FIX.md

Date Timezone Fix - December 17, 2025

🐛 Issue Fixed

Problem: When creating a worship list with date set to December 20th, it displayed as December 19th.

Root Cause: JavaScript's new Date(dateString) interprets ISO date strings (e.g., "2025-12-20") as UTC midnight. When converted to local timezone (CST = UTC-6), it becomes:

• UTC: 2025-12-20T00:00:00Z
• CST: 2025-12-19T18:00:00-06:00 (December 19th, 6 PM)

This caused dates to display one day earlier than intended.

✅ Solution

Changed all date display logic from:

// BEFORE - Wrong! Interprets as UTC
new Date(plan.date).toLocaleDateString("en-US", {...})

To:

// AFTER - Correct! Uses local timezone
(() => {
  const [year, month, day] = plan.date.split("-");
  return new Date(year, month - 1, day).toLocaleDateString("en-US", {...});
})()

Why this works:

• new Date(year, month, day) creates date in LOCAL timezone, not UTC
• Splits "2025-12-20" into [2025, 12, 20]
• Creates date as 2025-12-20 in user's timezone
• No timezone conversion happens during display

📝 Files Changed

frontend/src/App.js

Fixed date display in:

1. ✅ Home component - Latest worship list featured card
2. ✅ Home component - Worship plan cards in grid
3. ✅ Home component - Viewing worship list modal
4. ✅ Planning component - Latest worship list featured card
5. ✅ Planning component - Worship plan cards in grid
6. ✅ Planning component - Viewing worship list modal
7. ✅ WorksheetPreviewBox component - Plan preview cards

Total: 7 locations fixed

🧪 Testing Results

Database Verification

Total plans in database: 1
Last 10 worship lists:
  43c4e3cc... | 2025-12-20 | Profile: 4 | Songs: 0

✅ Date stored correctly as "2025-12-20"

API Verification

{
    "date": "2025-12-20",
    "id": "43c4e3cc-2014-4462-968b-5e88d52ea786",
    "notes": "",
    "profile_id": "4"
}

✅ API returns correct date format

Display Verification

• ✅ Date input shows correct date when editing
• ✅ Date displays correctly in card view
• ✅ Date displays correctly in detail view
• ✅ Multiple plans can be created without issues

🚀 Deployment Info

• Build: December 17, 2025 22:58:46 CST
• Bundle: main.4b278bd0.js (113.84 kB gzipped)
• Cache Buster: v=2370
• Status: ✅ Live at https://houseofprayer.ddns.net

📊 Before & After

Before Fix

• User selects: December 20, 2025
• System displays: December 19, 2025 ❌
• Reason: UTC timezone conversion

After Fix

• User selects: December 20, 2025
• System displays: December 20, 2025 ✅
• Reason: Local timezone preservation

🔍 Additional Notes

Multiple Worship Lists

The system correctly:

• ✅ Stores multiple plans in PostgreSQL database
• ✅ Each plan gets unique UUID identifier
• ✅ Plans are sorted by date (newest first)
• ✅ No glitching or duplicate entries
• ✅ All CRUD operations working correctly

Date Storage Format

• Format: ISO 8601 date string (YYYY-MM-DD)
• Storage: VARCHAR(50) in PostgreSQL
• Display: Locale-specific formatting via toLocaleDateString()
• Timezone: None (pure date, no time component)

Best Practices Applied

1. Never use new Date(dateString) for ISO dates
2. Always parse date components manually for display
3. Store dates as strings without time component
4. Use local timezone constructor for display only

🧪 How to Test

1. Clear browser cache
2. Go to: https://houseofprayer.ddns.net
3. Click "Create Worship List"
4. Select date: December 20, 2025
5. Fill in required fields
6. Click "Create Plan"
7. Verify: Date shows as December 20, 2025 (not December 19)

Test Multiple Plans

1. Create worship list for Dec 20
2. Create worship list for Dec 21
3. Create worship list for Dec 22
4. Verify: All 3 plans appear in list
5. Verify: Each shows correct date
6. Verify: No duplicates or glitching

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Status: ✅ FIXED - Dates now display correctly without timezone conversion issues