What is the preferred format to store date/times in a SQL Server database when PHP is your primary language?

Question

I am planning a PHP application that needs to store date/times in an MSSQL database. (For the curious, it is a calendar application.) What is the preferred format to store this

Answer 1

I'd recommend the same as i do for all dates in any db engine, the db native type. (DATETIME)

Just use "YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS" for inserting in php: date('Y-m-d H:i:s', $myTimeStampInSeconds);

-edit in response to comments below here -

1. for selected columns you can use $timestamp = strtotime( $yourColumnValue );
2. i recommend storing in the databas native format because you can then use SQL to compare records using SQL date/time functions like DATEADD() etc.