error,
        <literal>PGTYPESInvalidTimestamp</literal> is returned and <varname>errno</varname> is
        set to <literal>PGTYPES_TS_BAD_TIMESTAMP</literal>. See <xref linkend="pgtypesinvalidtimestamp"/> for important notes on this value.
       </para>
       <para>
        In general, the input string can contain any combination of an allowed
        date specification, a whitespace character and an allowed time
        specification. Note that time zones are not supported by ECPG. It can
        parse them but does not apply any calculation as the
        <productname>PostgreSQL</productname> server does for example. Timezone
        specifiers are silently discarded.
       </para>
       <para>
        <xref linkend="ecpg-pgtypestimestamp-from-asc-example-table"/> contains a few examples for input strings.
       </para>
        <table id="ecpg-pgtypestimestamp-from-asc-example-table">
         <title>Valid Input Formats for <function>PGTYPEStimestamp_from_asc</function></title>
         <tgroup cols="2">
          <thead>
           <row>
            <entry>Input</entry>
            <entry>Result</entry>
           </row>
          </thead>
          <tbody>
           <row>
            <entry><literal>1999-01-08 04:05:06</literal></entry>
            <entry><literal>1999-01-08 04:05:06</literal></entry>
           </row>
           <row>
            <entry><literal>January 8 04:05:06 1999 PST</literal></entry>
            <entry><literal>1999-01-08 04:05:06</literal></entry>
           </row>
           <row>
            <entry><literal>1999-Jan-08 04:05:06.789-8</literal></entry>
            <entry><literal>1999-01-08 04:05:06.789 (time zone specifier ignored)</literal></entry>
           </row>
           <row>
            <entry><literal>J2451187 04:05-08:00</literal></entry>
            <entry><literal>1999-01-08 04:05:00 (time zone specifier ignored)</literal></entry>
           </row>
          </tbody>
         </tgroup>
        </table>
      </listitem>
     </varlistentry>

     <varlistentry id="pgtypestimestamptoasc">
      <term><function>PGTYPEStimestamp_to_asc</function></term>
      <listitem>
       <para>
        Converts a date to a C char* string.
<synopsis>
char *PGTYPEStimestamp_to_asc(timestamp tstamp);
</synopsis>
        The function receives the timestamp <literal>tstamp</literal> as
        its only argument and returns an allocated string that contains the
        textual representation of the timestamp.
        The result must be freed with <function>PGTYPESchar_free()</function>.
       </para>
      </listitem>
     </varlistentry>

     <varlistentry id="pgtypestimestampcurrent">
      <term><function>PGTYPEStimestamp_current</function></term>
      <listitem>
       <para>
        Retrieve the current timestamp.
<synopsis>
void PGTYPEStimestamp_current(timestamp *ts);
</synopsis>
        The function retrieves the current timestamp and saves it into the
        timestamp variable that <literal>ts</literal> points to.
       </para>
      </listitem>
     </varlistentry>

     <varlistentry id="pgtypestimestampfmtasc">
      <term><function>PGTYPEStimestamp_fmt_asc</function></term>
      <listitem>
       <para>
        Convert a timestamp variable to a C char* using a format mask.
<synopsis>
int PGTYPEStimestamp_fmt_asc(timestamp *ts, char *output, int str_len, char *fmtstr);
</synopsis>
        The function receives a pointer to the timestamp to convert as its
        first argument (<literal>ts</literal>), a pointer to the output buffer
        (<literal>output</literal>), the maximal length that has been allocated for
        the output buffer (<literal>str_len</literal>) and the format mask to
        use for the conversion (<literal>fmtstr</literal>).
       </para>
       <para>
        Upon success, the function returns 0 and a negative value if an
        error occurred.
       </para>
       <para>
        You can use the following format specifiers for the format mask. The