[IDEA] Make a user preference to switch between 12h and 24h time display in the client #270
Description
The application overwhelmingly favors 24h format. Over the past several years, inconsistencies have been adjusted to match this expectation, with the most recent change happening in #269 .
Work and discussion had already been started in #130 (see also #166/#167), which was a carryover of nextgenhealthcare/connect#5989, but the scope was limited to two search forms.
If the user is to be given a preference to select between 12h and 24h display, it should consider all aspects of the client (input boxes, data in tables, client-side server and connection logs, etc...) in order to maintain consistency.
There are two existing ways that the application saves user preferences. They can be saved in the application database or in the user's java preferences on the local machine. Saving in the database favors those who log in to the same server environment from multiple devices. Saving on the local machine favors those who log in to multiple servers from the same device.
It may be that the added complexity of this change would not be worth the effort, as most people are already accustomed to seeing 24h format in the application, which has better sortability and takes up less space in data grids, and is also easier to enter into input boxes. Feel free to share opinions and discuss below.