Magento 1.9 – Database Dates Stored in Local Timezone

I believe what you need to do it go to System > Configuration > General > General > Localization options and change the default timezone to "India Standard Time" then Save.
I think this is what prevents you from having the right time saved in the DB.

I have just run into this issue. By placing a test magento order, and confirming the datetime placed for the created_at value of that order, I have managed to establish the following:

The date from the form field (thus date picker attached to that field) is not being converted to/from UTC when loading / saving on the db.

The display in the grid is correctly converting from UTC to the sites locale timezone.

Example: I place my order at 08:22 am (AWST) - the entry saved in created at was 00:22 (-8h UTC from AWST) When that order is viewed in the grid, it is correctly shown as 08:22 AM again (AWST)

Now, If I place a date time in the date-picker (or just manually type it into the form field) (so again using 08:22 AM), the value stored into the DB is exactly that 08:22 - where it should have been 00:22 - so, it is not converted to UTC upon save.

If I do convert it to UTC before save:

$data['date_time'] = Mage::getModel('core/date')->gmtDate("Y-m-d H:i:s", $data['date_time']);

it is correctly save to UTC in db, and the grid view then correctly displays 08:22 AM (correctly converted from UTC to AWST) However, if I view that in the form edit, it simply displays the value AS IS from the db - so as 00:22 - so no conversion was done from UTC to AWST (which is part of the issue)

To make this work for me, I had to:

Create a new form element:

$form->addType('datetimezone', 'Enjo_Events_Lib_Data_Form_Element_Datetime');

created the element as such:

$dateFormatIso = Mage::app()->getLocale()->getDateTimeFormat(Mage_Core_Model_Locale::FORMAT_TYPE_SHORT);
        $form->addField('date_time', 'datetimezone', array(
            'name'   => 'date_time',
            'label'  => Mage::helper('enjo_events')->__('Date and Time'),
            'title'  => Mage::helper('enjo_events')->__('Date and Time'),
            'image'  => $this->getSkinUrl('images/grid-cal.gif'),
            'input_format' => Varien_Date::DATETIME_INTERNAL_FORMAT,
            'format' => $dateFormatIso,
            'time' => true,
            'class'     => 'required-entry',
            'required'  => true,
            'width'     => "150",
            'locale'    => Mage::getStoreConfig('general/locale/code', 0),
            'convert_date_format' => "d/m/Y h:m a"
        ));

and the new form element code:

class Enjo_Events_Lib_Data_Form_Element_Datetime extends Varien_Data_Form_Element_Datetime
{

    /**
     * Get date value as string.
     * Format can be specified, or it will be taken from $this->getFormat()
     *
     * @param string $format (compatible with Zend_Date)
     * @return string
     */
    public function getValue($format = null)
    {
        if (empty($this->_value)) {
            return '';
        }
        if (null === $format) {
            $format = $this->getFormat();
        }
        return Mage::getModel('core/date')->date($this->getConvertDateFormat(),  $this->_value);
    }
}

and on the controller action, convert the date to UTC before saved.

$data = $this->getRequest()->getParams(); $data = $this->_filterDateTime($data, array('date_time')); $data['date_time'] = Mage::getModel('core/date')->gmtDate("Y-m-d H:i:s", $data['date_time']); $event->addData($data)->save();

which resulted in the correct data: UTC in DB, my store lcoale/zone in edits / views of said data.

I am not 100% sure where the failing is, so I class this as a workaround.