inconsistent create date time format

[8ctopus]

Contact Details

[email protected]

Describe the Issue

All webhook events have inconsistent create date time format as shown in the example below.

• Event create_time is 2023-09-29T05:31:20.578Z which corresponds to RFC3339_EXTENDED.
• Event resource.create_time is 2023-09-29T05:31:20Z which corresponds to RFC3339.

{
    "id": "WH-4Y606300TA357863S-3Y259958BU9969527",
    "event_version": "1.0",
    "create_time": "2023-09-29T05:31:20.578Z",
    "resource_type": "subscription",
    "resource_version": "2.0",
    "event_type": "BILLING.SUBSCRIPTION.CREATED",
    "summary": "Subscription created",
    "resource": {
        "start_time": "2023-09-29T05:31:20Z",
        "quantity": "1",
        "create_time": "2023-09-29T05:31:20Z",
        "links": [
            {
                "href": "https://www.sandbox.paypal.com/webapps/billing/subscriptions?ba_token=BA-9T8593239B086700M",
                "rel": "approve",
                "method": "GET"
            },
            {
                "href": "https://api.sandbox.paypal.com/v1/billing/subscriptions/I-FA415DTVC6B9",
                "rel": "edit",
                "method": "PATCH"
            },
            {
                "href": "https://api.sandbox.paypal.com/v1/billing/subscriptions/I-FA415DTVC6B9",
                "rel": "self",
                "method": "GET"
            }
        ],
        "id": "I-FA415DTVC6B9",
        "plan_overridden": false,
        "plan_id": "P-1CF03610GT7629518MUCCY2A",
        "status": "APPROVAL_PENDING"
    },
    "links": [
        {
            "href": "https://api.sandbox.paypal.com/v1/notifications/webhooks-events/WH-4Y606300TA357863S-3Y259958BU9969527",
            "rel": "self",
            "method": "GET"
        },
        {
            "href": "https://api.sandbox.paypal.com/v1/notifications/webhooks-events/WH-4Y606300TA357863S-3Y259958BU9969527/resend",
            "rel": "resend",
            "method": "POST"
        }
    ]
}

Steps To Reproduce

N/A

What type of Operating System are you seeing the problem on?

N/A

What type of browser are you seeing the problem on?

N/A

Screenshots or Videos

No response

Code to produce this issue.

No response

[cnallam]

@8ctopus - Acknowledge the issue, working to get the right team engaged.

[8ctopus]

@cnallam Maybe there is a reason that create_time at the event level is more precise: get an exact order of events that occurred within the same second? Just a hypothesis. Also changing the format at either level would introduce a breaking change.

[cnallam]

@8ctopus Yes I agree, this is a breaking change. Changing the format at either level will create a breaking change.
Is this date format RFC3339_EXTENDED an issue for you? If not we can close this issue.

[8ctopus]

No, it's not an issue per se, but it creates inconsistencies along the code base.

[cnallam]

Yeah it might create some inconsistencies. But can you parse the date "yyyy-MM-dd'T'HH:mm:ss" ignoring milliseconds, in that way you can avoid inconsistencies in code.
public class Main { public static void main(String[] args) throws ParseException { System.out.println( new SimpleDateFormat("yyyy-MM-dd'T'HH:mm:ss").parse("2023-09-29T05:31:20.578Z")); System.out.println( new SimpleDateFormat("yyyy-MM-dd'T'HH:mm:ss").parse("2023-09-29T05:31:20Z")); } }

[8ctopus]

Here's another inconsistency:

I simulate a PAYMENT.SALE.REVERSED event and just found out that the create_time is in RFC3339 instead of the expected RFC3339_EXTENDED.

Is it a bug of the simulation event, or does a real PAYMENT.SALE.REVERSED use a different create_time format?

{
    "id": "WH-3EC545679X386831C-3D038940937933201",
    "event_version": "1.0",
    "create_time": "2014-10-23T00:19:27Z",
    "resource_type": "sale",
    "event_type": "PAYMENT.SALE.REVERSED",
    "summary": "A $ 0.49 USD sale payment was reversed",
    "resource": {
        "id": "77689802DL785834G",
        "create_time": "2014-10-23T00:19:12Z",
        "state": "completed",
        "amount": {
            "total": "-0.49",
            "currency": "USD",
            "details": {
                "subtotal": "-0.64",
                "tax": "0.08",
                "shipping": "0.07"
            }
        },
        "links": [
            {
                "href": "https:\/\/api.sandbox.paypal.com\/v1\/payments\/refund\/77689802DL785834G",
                "rel": "self",
                "method": "GET"
            }
        ]
    },
    "links": [
        {
            "href": "https:\/\/api.sandbox.paypal.com\/v1\/notifications\/webhooks-events\/WH-3EC545679X386831C-3D038940937933201",
            "rel": "self",
            "method": "GET"
        },
        {
            "href": "https:\/\/api.sandbox.paypal.com\/v1\/notifications\/webhooks-events\/WH-3EC545679X386831C-3D038940937933201\/resend",
            "rel": "resend",
            "method": "POST"
        }
    ]
}