How do I convert a Java Calendar object from local time to UTC? This what I have tried:
Calendar calendar = Calendar.getInstance();
calendar.setTimeZone(TimeZone.getTimeZone("UTC"));
calendar.setTime(localDateTime.getTime());
SimpleDateFormat outputFmt = new SimpleDateFormat("MMM dd, yyy h:mm a zz");
String dateAsString = outputFmt.format(calendar.getTime());
System.out.println(dateAsString)
Time is always displayed in MT not GMT. I want to store the calendar in UTC in a database (I'm not concerned with formatting or displaying the time).
You need call setTimeZone on SimpleDateFormat, not on Calendar :
//getting local time
Calendar calendar = Calendar.getInstance(Locale.getDefault());
SimpleDateFormat outputFmt = new SimpleDateFormat("MMM dd, yyy h:mm a zz");
outputFmt.setTimeZone(TimeZone.getTimeZone("GMT")); //set timezone here
//shows calendar time correctly set
System.out.println(outputFmt.format(calendar.getTime()));