[Feature Request]: Request for an Interface to Obtain the Current Time, Instead of Using DateTime.now()

[GF-Allen]

Contact Details

No response

Is your feature request related to a problem? Please describe.

Users may modify their device's local time, leading to inaccurate time retrieval using DateTime.now().

Describe the solution you'd like

Describe alternatives you've considered

Additional context

No response

Code of Conduct

• I agree to follow this project's Code of Conduct

[nixrajput]

Hi @GF-Allen,

Thank you for your feature request! I understand the concern regarding potential inaccuracies when relying on DateTime.now() due to local device time modifications.

To ensure that this feature benefits a broader set of users, could you provide more details on your specific use case? For example:

• Do you need an interface to fetch time from an external source (e.g., an API or server time), or are you looking for an abstraction that allows overriding DateTime.now() with a custom implementation?
• Should this feature support dependency injection so users can provide their own time source?
• Are there specific environments (e.g., web, mobile, or server-side applications) where this feature would be particularly useful?

Gathering these insights will help in designing a more flexible and useful solution. Looking forward to your thoughts!

Thanks,
Nikhil

[GF-Allen]

Hi，

Thank you for your thoughtful response and for considering my feature request!

My primary goal is to allow more control over the “current time” used by GetTimeAgo.parse(). The idea would be to either:

1. Add an optional parameter for the current time in the GetTimeAgo.parse() method, so users can provide a custom DateTime when calling this method, or
2. Provide a way to fetch the current time through a custom interface or method within GetTimeAgo, allowing users to inject their own time source instead of relying solely on DateTime.now(). eg:

class GetTimeAgo { 

  static DateTime Function()? getNowDateTime;

  static String parse(
    DateTime dateTime, {
    String? locale,
    String? pattern,
  }){
   ...

   final currentClock = getNowDateTime?.call() ?? DateTime.now();

   ...
 }
}

This feature would be useful across all platforms (web, mobile, server-side), especially when time accuracy is crucial, and users need to rely on an external, consistent time source rather than the potentially modified local device time.

Thanks again for your time and consideration!