GetDateFormatEx returns a non-zero value but the buffer returned by it is faulty

Question

This is the sample program in which "GetDateFormatEx" returns an invalid string. It is failing in customer's setup.

#include <windows.h>
#include <iostream>
uint64_t
shimTime(void)
{
    FILETIME ts;
    GetSystemTimeAsFileTime(&ts);
    ULONGLONG systime = ((ULARGE_INTEGER*)&ts)->QuadPart;
    return systime;
}
int main() {
    static const size_t sz = 64;
    TCHAR currTimeStr[sz];
    TCHAR currDateStr[sz];
    FILETIME ts;
    int ret = -1;
    // Get current-time in pretty-format
    GetSystemTimeAsFileTime(&ts);
    uint64_t currTime = shimTime();
    SYSTEMTIME  stime, lstime;
    if (currTime == 0) {
        printf("currTime is 0\n");
        swprintf_s(currTimeStr, sz, L"0");
        swprintf_s(currDateStr, sz, L"0");
    }
    else {
        if (!FileTimeToSystemTime((FILETIME*)&currTime, &stime)) {
            printf("Unable to get FileTimeToSystemTime, err=%u\n", GetLastError());
        }
        if (!SystemTimeToTzSpecificLocalTime(NULL, &stime, &lstime)) {
            printf("Unable to get SystemTimeToTzSpecificLocalTime, err=%u\n", GetLastError());
        }
        ret = GetTimeFormatEx(LOCALE_NAME_USER_DEFAULT, 0, &lstime, NULL, currTimeStr, _countof(currTimeStr));
        printf("GetTimeFormatEx ret = %d\n", ret);
        if (!ret) {
            printf("GetTimeFormatEx failed, err=%u\n", GetLastError());
        }
        ret = GetDateFormatEx(LOCALE_NAME_USER_DEFAULT, 0, &lstime, L"ddd',' MMM dd',' yyyy", currDateStr, _countof(currDateStr), NULL);
        printf("GetDateFormatEx ret = %d\n", ret);
        if (!ret) {
            printf("GetDateFormatEx failed, err=%u\n", GetLastError());
        }
    }
    currTimeStr[sz - 1] = '\0';
    currDateStr[sz - 1] = '\0';
    // Print time and date
    printf("Current time is: %S\n", currTimeStr);
    printf("Current date is: %S\n", currDateStr);
    char cp[1024];
    int cursize = sprintf_s(&cp[0], 1023, "ts=%S %S", currTimeStr, currDateStr);
    if (cursize < 0 || cursize >= 1023) {
        printf("Error occurred during sprintf_s, cursize: %u\n", cursize);
    }
    printf("%s\n", cp);
    return 0;
}

All I can see from log is cursize from sprint_f returned is 429496729 and the last print returns "ts=06:21:20 " None of the functions have failed. All are returning non zero values. currDateStr seems to be faulty but GetDateFormatEx has returned a non-zero value.

Details of the system

C:>systeminfo

 

Host Name:                 MIGNT006

OS Name:                   Microsoft Windows Server 2019 Standard

OS Version:                10.0.17763 N/A Build 17763

OS Manufacturer:           Microsoft Corporation

OS Configuration:          Member Server

OS Build Type:             Multiprocessor Free

Registered Owner:          Flex

Registered Organization:   Flex

Product ID:                00429-70000-00000-AA322

Original Install Date:     01/30/2021, 17:11:12

System Boot Time:          01/19/2024, 14:52:23

System Manufacturer:       HP

System Model:              ProLiant DL360 G7

System Type:               x64-based PC

Processor(s):              2 Processor(s) Installed.

BIOS Version:              HP P68, 05/21/2018

Windows Directory:         C:\WINDOWS

System Directory:          C:\WINDOWS\system32

Boot Device:               \Device\HarddiskVolume1

System Locale:             en-us;English (United States)

Input Locale:              en-us;English (United States)

Time Zone:                 (UTC+02:00) Jerusalem

Total Physical Memory:     16,374 MB

Available Physical Memory: 5,051 MB

Virtual Memory: Max Size:  18,806 MB

Virtual Memory: Available: 7,398 MB

Virtual Memory: In Use:    11,408 MB

Page File Location(s):     C:\pagefile.sys

Domain:                    europe.ad.flextronics.com

Logon Server:              \EUMIG002

Hotfix(s):                 31 Hotfix(s) Installed.

Network Card(s):           4 NIC(s) Installed.

                                 Connection Name: Ethernet 3

                                 Status:          Media disconnected

                                 Connection Name: Ethernet 4

                                 DHCP Enabled:    No

                                 IP address(es)

                                 Connection Name: Ethernet 2

                                 Status:          Media disconnected

                                Connection Name: Ethernet

                                 Status:          Media disconnected

Hyper-V Requirements:      VM Monitor Mode Extensions: Yes

                           Virtualization Enabled In Firmware: Yes

                           Second Level Address Translation: Yes

                           Data Execution Prevention Available: Yes

`

Can you please help in figuring out what could be possibly wrong here?

Answer 1

Hi, @gupta, shivangi •

As Viorel said, sprintf_s and printf cannot convert it because of some characters (e.g. non-Latin letters).

For example

sprintf_s return error.

replace with swprintf_s

TCHAR cp[1024];//wchar

......

int cursize = swprintf_s(&cp[0], 1023, L"ts=%s %s", currTimeStr, currDateStr);

wprintf(L"%ls\n", cp);

Best regards,

Minxin Yu

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Answer 2

@RLWA32 I am also not able to reproduce it in my system. Its only reproducible in customer environment for which I have shared the systeminfo.

Answer 3

@Viorel I have tried changing the locale to non-latin (Russia, Hebrew ) which couldnt reproduce the issue. Can you suggest some settings due to which GetDateFormatEx will return non-latin letters to fail sprintf?

Answer 4

Thanks @Minxin Yu and @Viorel for helping me out. The issue was with sprintf. Its a very old code and this single customer has complaint about it. So, We have asked them to change their regional format.