Django timezone-aware datetime handling

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                  from django.db import models
from django.utils import timezone


class Event(models.Model):
    name = models.CharField(max_length=200)
    start_time = models.DateTimeField()
    created_at = models.DateTimeField(auto_now_add=True)

    def is_upcoming(self):
        """Check if event is in the future."""
        return self.start_time > timezone.now()

    def local_start_time(self, tz_name='America/New_York'):
        """Get start time in specific timezone."""
        import pytz
        tz = pytz.timezone(tz_name)
        return timezone.localtime(self.start_time, tz)

Django stores datetimes as UTC in the database when USE_TZ=True. I use timezone.now() instead of datetime.now() to get aware datetimes. The timezone.localtime() converts UTC to user's timezone for display. For user input, I use timezone.make_aware() to add timezone info. Template filters like {{ value|date }} respect TIME_ZONE setting. I'm careful with auto_now_add and auto_now as they always use UTC. For scheduling, I use django-celery-beat with timezone-aware crontabs. This prevents subtle bugs around DST transitions and international users.

Priya Sharma

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Django timezone-aware datetime handling

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