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OptDateTime

function OptDateTime(const aName: String;
  const aDefault: TDateTime): TDateTime;

Example​

procedure ScriptEvent(var Value: variant);
var
  Payload: TJSONObject;
begin
  Payload := TJSONObject.CreateFromString(
    '{"created":"2026-07-20T04:00:00Z"}');
  try
    Value := Payload.OptDateTime('created', 0);
  finally
    Payload.Free;
  end;
end;

Usage​

OptDateTime converts a present non-null field from ISO 8601 to UTC and uses the required default only for absence or null.

Additional Technical Info​

OptDateTime finds the first case-insensitive field without mutating the object. It returns the required aDefault when the field is missing or its node is null.

A present non-null node is converted with ISO8601ToDate(value.AsString, True), requesting UTC adjustment. No ValueType check is made first: a JSON String is typical, but any node whose AsString is accepted can succeed.

Invalid ISO text or incompatible structured/scalar output raises a conversion exception. The default is not an exception fallback. Validate remote text separately when a malformed field must be treated like absence.

Duplicate names select the first physical value. A non-null timestamp that converts to Delphi zero is returned as zero and is not replaced by the default.

External references

Created 2026-07-20