## Overview - Introduction to the Distributed Time Service API

This topic describes the DCE Distributed Time Service (DTS) programming routines. You can use these routines to obtain timestamps that are based on Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). You can also use the DTS routines to translate among different timestamp formats and perform calculations on timestamps. Applications can use the timestamps that DTS supplies to determine event sequencing, duration, and scheduling. Applications can call the DTS routines from any host that has the libdce. The dtsd need not be running.

DTS routines are written in the C programming language. You should be familiar with basic DTS concepts before you attempt to use the application programming interface (API). The DTS chapters of the OSF DCE Administration Guide - Core Components provide conceptual information about DTS.

The DTS API routines offer the following basic functions:

· Retrieving timestamp information

· Converting between binary timestamps that use different time structures

· Converting between binary timestamps and ASCII representations

· Converting between UTC time and local time

· Manipulating binary timestamps

· Comparing two binary time values

· Calculating binary time values

· Obtaining time zone information

The topics that follow describe how DTS represents time, discuss the DTS time structures, discuss the DTS API header files, and briefly describe the DTS API routines.

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