Understanding the runtime.getCurrentUser().getPreference() Function in NetSuite User Event Script

In NetSuite, handling user preferences like date formats is crucial when processing or displaying date-sensitive information. This article discusses how to retrieve and apply the user’s preferred date format in a User Event Script (UES) and perform custom logic based on the format.

1. runtime.getCurrentUser().getPreference() The runtime module provides details about the currently logged-in user. Using getPreference(), you can retrieve specific preferences, like DATEFORMAT, which dictates how dates are formatted for the user.
2. Converting Dates Based on the User’s Preference After fetching the user’s preferred date format, the script can perform date conversions to standardize the format. In this example, if the format is MM/DD/YYYY, the script converts a date (dateCreatedd) into the matching format. Otherwise, it leaves the original date as is.

define(['N/record', 'N/log', 'N/search', 'N/ui/serverWidget', 'N/runtime'],
    function (record, log, search, serverWidget, runtime) {
        function beforeLoad(scriptContext) {
            try {
                // Fetching the current user's date format preference
                let userDateFormat = runtime.getCurrentUser().getPreference({
                    name: 'DATEFORMAT'
                });

                // If the user's date format is MM/DD/YYYY, convert the date
                if (userDateFormat == 'MM/DD/YYYY') {
                    log.debug("User prefers MM/DD/YYYY format");

                    // Create a Date object from the original date string
                    let dateObject = new Date(dateCreatedd);

                    // Validate the date object
                    if (!isNaN(dateObject.getTime())) {
                        let month = ("0" + (dateObject.getMonth() + 1)).slice(-2);
                        let day = ("0" + dateObject.getDate()).slice(-2);
                        let year = dateObject.getFullYear();

                        // Format the date as MM/DD/YYYY
                        let dateCreated = month + '/' + day + '/' + year;
                    } else {
                        log.error("Date Conversion Error", "The provided date format could not be parsed.");
                    }
                } else {
                    // Use the original date string if the format isn't MM/DD/YYYY
                    let dateCreated = dateCreatedd;
                }
            } catch (e) {
                log.error("Error in beforeLoad", e.toString());
            }
        }

        return {
            beforeLoad: beforeLoad
        };
    });