KosherJava

Zmanim Q & A Forum

Created by KosherJava

From time to time users of this site contact me with zmanim related questions, both technical and halachic. While I do not mind answering these questions, an open forum is probably more helpful to a greater audience. Please feel free to post your zmanim questions and comment here. While the target of this API were Java programmers, the vast majority of questions/comments are not related to the actual API. Here are some recent questions received (made generic).

• Q: Can you let me know what calculations/opinion is used by the zmanim shown at [link removed]? I tried contacting the owner of the site but no one replied.
  A: I was able to answer the user based on information on the site and comparing the zmanim
• Q: What opinion does zman XYZ follow?
  A: The information can be seen in the Javadocs, and I added additional information in the email to the user.
• Q: How can I use your API in JavaScipt/Ruby/PHP/C#/C++/Obj-C etc, etc
  A: The API is written in Java. A port to your programming language is needed. I am more than willing to help guide you and make changes to my API to allow easier porting, but this is not something that I have the time to do at the moment.
• Q: Your zmanim spreadsheet does now show a time for tzais as X minutes after shkiah etc
  A: In some of these cases I actually added zmanim to the API, but for the less commonly used times, I point the questioner to the API with a sample on how to generate the requested zman. The API is very flexible, and almost every zman pointed out to me was very easy to generate
• Q: Why are your zmanim 2 minutes different than [link removed].
  A It is not always clear what exact coordinate was used to generate those zmanim or what rounding was done by the author. If you provide more detailed information (usually by contacting the author of that calendar) you will usually find that the 2 can be matched
• Q: I want to incorporate a Luach on my site, can you help?
  A: The API currently only calculates Zmanim. Zmanim are based on a solar year, and there is no need for the Hebrew date for the calculations. That said, There used to be a Java API released under the GPL at the BAYT Calendar page, but that is no longer available. I probably have a copy of it (if I can find it), and may some day post it. There is another one available from the ICU Project released under the open source ICU License by IBM. There are various other ones including the non-GPL Gauss library released by Zvi Har’El.
• Q: I found the following bug in the API!!!
  A: I welcome these reports even though the majority are not bugs at all

19 Comments »

19 Responses to “Zmanim Q & A Forum”

1. zohar says:

   ‍‍April 22, 2010 - ח׳ אייר תש״ע at 9:00 AM

   Hi ,
   Thanks for sharing ,
   I am trying to find an example for using the Zman Class ,
   I wish to send a date and get it in Hebrew format .

   I am trying to as fllow :

   Date d1 = new Date();
   Zman _zman =new Zman(d1,”MyNewTime”); (what the label an the zman constructor use for?)

   _zman.setZman(d1) ;

   then here i want to display my new Hebrew date ,
   can i do that with the zman class ?

   Thanks Zohar

   Reply
   • KosherJava says:

     ‍‍April 22, 2010 - ח׳ אייר תש״ע at 12:22 PM

     Zohar,
     See my FAQ: Where is the Zmanim API Main Method? post for some basic developer information on using the API.

     Reply
2. Ori Hollander says:

   ‍‍June 29, 2010 - י״ז תמוז תש״ע at 1:25 PM

   Is there a way to get Zmanim for a different day?

   Reply
3. KosherJava says:

   ‍‍June 29, 2010 - י״ז תמוז תש״ע at 2:06 PM

   Ori,
   Are you referring to the API, map or spreadsheet?

   Reply
   • Ori Hollander says:

     ‍‍June 29, 2010 - י״ז תמוז תש״ע at 2:18 PM

     API

     Reply
     • KosherJava says:

       ‍‍June 29, 2010 - י״ז תמוז תש״ע at 3:00 PM

       There is documentation for this in the base AstronomicalCalendar class. ZmanimCalendar and ComplexZmanimCalendar should behave the same way.

       // To get the time of sunrise, first set the date.
       // If not set, the date will default to today.
       AstronomicalCalendar ac = new AstronomicalCalendar(location);
       ac.getCalendar().set(Calendar.MONTH, Calendar.FEBRUARY);
       ac.getCalendar().set(Calendar.DAY_OF_MONTH, 8);
       Date sunrise = ac.getSunrise();
       

       Reply
4. Dave says:

   ‍‍January 9, 2011 - ד׳ שבט תשע״א at 3:23 PM

   Please look at this site. zmanim is a bottom of page but the zmanim is not showing

   Luach for Ohev Tzedek-Shaarei Torah
   4 Shevat 5771
   ד’ שבט תשע”א

   Zmanim
   Alos HaShachar:
   Netz:
   Earliest Tallis:
   Latest Sh’ma:
   Chatzos:
   Mincha Gedola:
   Mincha Ktana:
   Plag Hamincha:
   Shkiah:
   Hide
   Shabbos

   It will come in 6 days.
   Candle light :
   Shabbos ends:

   do i need to configure something else?
   Thank you,
   Dave

   Reply
   • KosherJava says:

     ‍‍January 9, 2011 - ד׳ שבט תשע״א at 4:32 PM

     Dave,
     The plugin is produced by kosherdev.com (not kosherjava.com), and you should ask the question there.

     Reply
5. charles says:

   ‍‍November 6, 2011 - ט׳ חשון תשע״ב at 6:32 PM

   Can’t you make this site a little easier for us computer illitirate people that need some zmanim.
   Charles
   moose jaw, SK

   Reply
   • KosherJava says:

     ‍‍November 6, 2011 - ט׳ חשון תשע״ב at 7:21 PM

     Charles,
     Thanks for your interst. This site is targeted mostly at software developers interested in using zmanim in their programs. That said, there are 2 very easy to use ways to get the zmanim you require

     • The Zmanim Map. This is a quick way to get the zmanim for the current day on a map
     • Zmanim Calendar Generator. This will generate a spreadsheet with zmanim for the entire year. You will also find a link to this on the bottom of the zmanim list in the Zmanim Map

     Please let me know if there is anything specific that you are looking for.

     Reply
     • Charles says:

       ‍‍November 11, 2011 - י״ד חשון תשע״ב at 9:56 AM

       you wrote “Zmanim Calendar Generator. This will generate a spreadsheet with zmanim for the entire year. You will also find a link to this on the bottom of the zmanim list in the Zmanim Map” I tries clicking on “Zmanim Calendar Generator” and the link was dead.
       Thanks

       Reply
       • KosherJava says:

         ‍‍November 11, 2011 - י״ד חשון תשע״ב at 10:09 AM

         Charles,
         There was a typo in the URL I used, and it is now pointing the the proper one. Please try clicking the link again. The URL is http://www.kosherjava.com/zmanim-project/zmanim-calendar-generator/.

         Reply
6. Jerry Eizen says:

   ‍‍November 19, 2011 - כ״ב חשון תשע״ב at 10:05 PM

   Just got the ZmanimGUI working. Is there a way to get Misheyakir to show on it?

   Reply
   • KosherJava says:

     ‍‍November 19, 2011 - כ״ב חשון תשע״ב at 10:17 PM

     Contact the author Moshe Wagner at the email address mentioned in the Zmanim GUI Released post, or via his פינגווין עם כיפה blog.

     Reply
7. Samit says:

   ‍‍January 18, 2012 - כ״ג טבת תשע״ב at 9:29 AM

   Hy,

   can you please tell me any function in this api to check its holiday in jewish calendar for specific date …

   i need to list of all holidays list of jewish calendar , list of days of Rosh Chodesh holidays , and Omer holidays number.. i checked in libhdate provide all functions , but i not found these all functions or functionality in this api.. can you please inform me below all functions are available in java api or not ?

   i need below all functions functionality…

   - get_holyday_type() — the holiday type
   - get_omer_day() — get the day of the omer
   - get_holyday_string() — string of hebrew holiday name
   - get_holyday() — the hebrew holiday number

   any other suggestion welcome.

   Thanks

   Reply
   • KosherJava says:

     ‍‍January 18, 2012 - כ״ג טבת תשע״ב at 8:33 PM

     Samit,
     I suggest that you check out the KosherJava Zmanim API Javadocs. Specifically look at the net.sourceforge.zmanim.hebrewcalendar package. This package (unlike the rest of the code in the API) is at alpha quality now, but does work.

     Reply
     • Samit says:

       ‍‍January 19, 2012 - כ״ד טבת תשע״ב at 12:20 AM

       Thanks for your quickly reply..

       i checked net.sourceforge.zmanim.hebrewcalendar package but not found specific function which i mentioned my above post..

       can you give me some description or some suggestion for how to check specific date is current holiday or not and if holiday then i need to holiday name.. i checked hebrewcalendar package but not found or not understand which function i use so please any suggestion..

       Thanks

       Reply
       • KosherJava says:

         ‍‍January 19, 2012 - כ״ד טבת תשע״ב at 12:37 AM

         Samit,
         Here is some sample code. I am afraid that I can’t offer any additional help at this point. The code below should have been pretty clear from the JavaDocs.

         JewishCalendar jd = new JewishCalendar(); //current date
         HebrewDateFormatter hdf = new HebrewDateFormatter();
         System.out.println(jd); //prints hebrew date in English chars - 24 Teves, 5772
         System.out.println(jd.getDayOfOmer()); //-1 since there is no omer count this time of year
         System.out.println(hdf.formatYomTov(jd)); //nothing printed since it is not a holiday
         jd.setJewishDate(5772, JewishDate.NISSAN, 18); //change date to one that is a holiday and has an Omer count
         System.out.println(jd.getDayOfOmer()); //3rd day of omer
         System.out.println(hdf.formatOmer(jd));
         System.out.println(hdf.formatYomTov(jd)); //Chol Hamoed Pesach
         hdf.setHebrewFormat(true); //change formatting to Hebrew
         System.out.println(hdf.format(jd)); //date formatted in Hebrew
         System.out.println(hdf.formatOmer(jd)); //3rd day of Omer in Hebrew
         System.out.println(hdf.formatYomTov(jd)); //Chol Hamoed Pesach in Hebrew
         

         Reply
         • Samit says:

           ‍‍January 19, 2012 - כ״ד טבת תשע״ב at 1:11 AM

           Thank you very much…

           now my problem solved for using your sample code.i checked but some step missing in my code so not got answer.. now this sample its very helpful me. thanks for your suggestion and demo sample.