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Now

function Now: TDateTime;

Example​

procedure ScriptEvent(var Value: variant);
begin
  Value := Now; // current local date and time on the executing Velox host
end;

Usage​

Now returns the Windows host's current local date and time as an untagged TDateTime.

Returns

The host-local current date and time as an untagged TDateTime, with the millisecond field supplied by the Windows local-clock snapshot.

Behaviour

  • The timezone, daylight-saving state and clock adjustment are those of the machine executing the script, not necessarily the Velox Designer workstation or a source system.
  • Each call reads the system clock again. Two adjacent calls are not guaranteed to be equal.
  • One Windows snapshot supplies both date and time fields, so the function does not combine separate reads that could cross midnight.
  • The result is an encoded wall-clock value; TDateTime itself contains no timezone metadata.

Errors

The current Windows snapshot contains valid field ranges under normal operation. Unexpected date/time encoding failures are not caught or translated by Velox.

Usage notes

Capture Now once and reuse it when several calculations must share an identical reference instant. Use NowUTC when the script contract explicitly requires current UTC calendar fields.

Additional Technical Info​

Now reads the executing Windows host's current local calendar date and wall-clock time and returns the fields as a Delphi TDateTime. The value is environment-dependent and carries no timezone identifier or UTC flag.

The example is source-reviewed and intentionally environment-dependent. It was not executed by the documentation workflow.

Implementation

Velox's modified PascalScript date import registers Delphi System.SysUtils.Now directly. On the installed Windows Delphi 37.0 runtime, Now calls GetLocalTime once, then combines that single SYSTEMTIME snapshot through EncodeDate and EncodeTime.

Edge cases and quirks

  • Running the same script in Velox Designer and Velox Service can produce different values if they execute at different times or on hosts with different timezone settings.
  • The returned millisecond field does not guarantee that the physical clock has true millisecond accuracy or resolution.
  • The local clock can move backwards or forwards because of daylight-saving changes, administrator changes or clock synchronisation. Do not use successive Now values as a monotonic performance timer.
  • Serialising the value without its timezone context makes later interpretation ambiguous.

Side effects

Reads the Windows local system clock. It does not change the clock or other process state.

Performance and concurrency

Constant-time operating-system clock access and date/time encoding. The call is safe to make concurrently, but concurrent callers can observe different instants or a host clock adjustment.

Related entries

  • NowUTC reads current UTC fields instead of host-local fields.
  • IsToday compares against the host's current local date.

External references

Created 2026-07-15