Wiser Date for Rails

WiserDate is a date formatting plugin written by Kenneth John Balgos (github.com/kennethjohnbalgos). Wiser Date features dynamic presentation of feed timestamps. The plugin now supports real-time and dynamic date displays.

Dependency

Rails >=3.1 and jQuery >=1.7 to make the real-time feature work.

Installation

Install the gem.

gem "wiser_date"

Require jquery.wiser_date in your app/assets/application.js file.

//= require jquery.wiser_date

Usage

Use the wiser_date function in your views.

<%= wiser_date @user.last_login_at %>
# Sample display within few seconds: just now
# Sample display within few minutes: about 30 minutes ago
# Sample display within the day: about 3 hours ago
# Sample display later within the day: today at 12:21pm
# Sample display after the day: yesterday 12:21pm
# Sample display after 2 days: September 10, 2013 12:21pm

@user.last_login_at can be any timestamp you want to display.

Assume that the value is “Mon, 10 Sept 2012 12:21:16 UTC +00:00”.

Options & Examples

You can customize the behavior of the date display by using the following options:

• real_time - toggles the real-time updating of displayed dates [default: true]

  <%= wiser_date @user.last_login_at, :real_time => false %>
  

• interval - custom real-time update interval in seconds [default: 20]

  <%= wiser_date @user.last_login_at, :interval => 60 %>
  

• date_format - overrides the default date format [default: “%b %d, %Y”]

  <%= wiser_date @user.last_login_at, :date_format => "%Y-%m-%d" %>
  # Sample display within few seconds: just now
  # Sample display within few minutes: about 30 minutes ago
  # Sample display within the day: about 3 hours ago
  # Sample display later within the day: today at 12:21pm
  # Sample display after the day: yesterday 12:21pm
  # Sample display after 2 days: 2012-09-10 12:21pm
  

• time_format - overrides the default time format [default: “%l:%M%P”]

  <%= wiser_date @user.last_login_at, :time_format => "%H:%M:%S" %>
  # Sample display within few seconds: just now
  # Sample display within few minutes: about 30 minutes ago
  # Sample display within the day: about 3 hours ago
  # Sample display later within the day: today at 12:21:16
  # Sample display after the day: yesterday 12:21:16
  # Sample display after 2 days: September 10, 2013 12:21:16
  

• humanize - converts date to more readable string [default: true]

  <%= wiser_date @user.last_login_at, :humanize => false %>
  # Sample display within few seconds: September 10, 2013 12:21pm
  # Sample display within few minutes: September 10, 2013 12:21pm
  # Sample display within the day: September 10, 2013 12:21pm
  # Sample display later within the day: September 10, 2013 12:21pm
  # Sample display after the day: September 10, 2013 12:21pm
  # Sample display after 2 days: September 10, 2013 12:21pm
  

• time_first - displays time first instead of date [default: false]

  <%= wiser_date @user.last_login_at, :time_first => true %>
  # Sample display within few seconds: just now
  # Sample display within few minutes: about 30 minutes ago
  # Sample display within the day: about 3 hours ago
  # Sample display later within the day: 12:21pm today
  # Sample display after the day: 12:21pm yesterday 
  # Sample display after 2 days: 12:21pm September 10, 2013
  

• hide_same_year - will not display the year if the it is the same with the present year [default: false]

  <%= wiser_date @user.last_login_at, :hide_same_year => true %>
  # Sample display within few seconds: just now
  # Sample display within few minutes: about 30 minutes ago
  # Sample display within the day: about 3 hours ago
  # Sample display later within the day: today at 12:21pm
  # Sample display after the day: yesterday 12:21pm
  # Sample display after 2 days: September 10, 12:21pm
  

• capitalize - capitalizes the first letter of the date displayed [default: true]

  <%= wiser_date @user.last_login_at, :capitalize => true %>
  # Sample display within few seconds: Just now
  # Sample display within few minutes: About 30 minutes ago
  # Sample display within the day: about 3 hours ago
  # Sample display later within the day: Today at 12:21pm
  # Sample display after the day: Yesterday 12:21pm
  # Sample display after 2 days: September 10, 12:21pm
  

• custom_class - adds custom classes to the containter span of the date [default: nil]

  <%= wiser_date @user.last_login_at, :custom_class => "date_tooltip" %>
  

• time_now - accepts complete timestamp as the basis of time distances [default: server_time]

  <%= wiser_date @user.last_login_at, :time_now => "2012-09-10 12:21:16 +0000" %>
  

Support

Open an issue in github.com/kennethjohnbalgos/wiser_date if you need further support or want to report a bug.