Module: ActionView::Helpers::DateHelper

Included in:
InstanceTag
Defined in:
lib/action_view/helpers/date_helper.rb

Overview

The Date Helper primarily creates select/option tags for different kinds of dates and date elements. All of the select-type methods share a number of common options that are as follows:

  • :prefix - overwrites the default prefix of “date” used for the select names. So specifying “birthday” would give birthday instead of date if passed to the select_month method.

  • :include_blank - set to true if it should be possible to set an empty date.

  • :discard_type - set to true if you want to discard the type part of the select name. If set to true, the select_month method would use simply “date” (which can be overwritten using :prefix) instead of “date”.

Constant Summary collapse

DEFAULT_PREFIX = 
"date"

Instance Method Summary collapse

Instance Method Details

#date_select(object, method, options = {}) ⇒ Object

Returns a set of select tags (one for year, month, and day) pre-selected for accessing a specified date-based attribute (identified by method) on an object assigned to the template (identified by object). It’s possible to tailor the selects through the options hash, which both accepts all the keys that each of the individual select builders does (like :use_month_numbers for select_month) and a range of discard options. The discard options are :discard_month and :discard_day. Set to true, they’ll drop the respective select. Discarding the month select will also automatically discard the day select.

NOTE: Discarded selects will default to 1. So if no month select is available, January will be assumed. Additionally, you can get the month select before the year by setting :month_before_year to true in the options. This is especially useful for credit card forms. Examples:

date_select("post", "written_on")
date_select("post", "written_on", :start_year => 1995)
date_select("post", "written_on", :start_year => 1995, :use_month_numbers => true, 
                                  :discard_day => true, :include_blank => true)

The selects are prepared for multi-parameter assignment to an Active Record object.



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# File 'lib/action_view/helpers/date_helper.rb', line 53

def date_select(object, method, options = {})
  InstanceTag.new(object, method, self).to_date_select_tag(options)
end

#datetime_select(object, method, options = {}) ⇒ Object

Returns a set of select tags (one for year, month, day, hour, and minute) pre-selected for accessing a specified datetime-based attribute (identified by method) on an object assigned to the template (identified by object). Examples:

datetime_select("post", "written_on")
datetime_select("post", "written_on", :start_year => 1995)

The selects are prepared for multi-parameter assignment to an Active Record object.



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# File 'lib/action_view/helpers/date_helper.rb', line 64

def datetime_select(object, method, options = {})
  InstanceTag.new(object, method, self).to_datetime_select_tag(options)
end

#distance_of_time_in_words(from_time, to_time) ⇒ Object

Reports the approximate distance in time between to Time objects. For example, if the distance is 47 minutes, it’ll return “about 1 hour”. See the source for the complete wording list.



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# File 'lib/action_view/helpers/date_helper.rb', line 18

def distance_of_time_in_words(from_time, to_time)
  distance_in_minutes = ((to_time - from_time) / 60).round
  
  case distance_in_minutes
    when 0          then "less than a minute"
    when 1          then "1 minute"
    when 2..45      then "#{distance_in_minutes} minutes"
    when 46..90     then "about 1 hour"
    when 90..1440   then "about #{(distance_in_minutes.to_f / 60.0).round} hours"
    when 1441..2880 then "1 day"
    else                 "#{(distance_in_minutes / 1440).round} days"
  end
end

#distance_of_time_in_words_to_now(from_time) ⇒ Object

Like distance_of_time_in_words, but where to_time is fixed to Time.now.



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# File 'lib/action_view/helpers/date_helper.rb', line 33

def distance_of_time_in_words_to_now(from_time)
  distance_of_time_in_words(from_time, Time.now)
end

#select_date(date = Date.today, options = {}) ⇒ Object

Returns a set of html select-tags (one for year, month, and day) pre-selected with the date.



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# File 'lib/action_view/helpers/date_helper.rb', line 69

def select_date(date = Date.today, options = {})
  select_year(date, options) + select_month(date, options) + select_day(date, options)
end

#select_datetime(datetime = Time.now, options = {}) ⇒ Object

Returns a set of html select-tags (one for year, month, day, hour, and minute) preselected the datetime.



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# File 'lib/action_view/helpers/date_helper.rb', line 74

def select_datetime(datetime = Time.now, options = {})
  select_year(datetime, options) + select_month(datetime, options) + select_day(datetime, options) +
  select_hour(datetime, options) + select_minute(datetime, options)
end

#select_day(date, options = {}) ⇒ Object

Returns a select tag with options for each of the days 1 through 31 with the current day selected. The date can also be substituted for a hour number.



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# File 'lib/action_view/helpers/date_helper.rb', line 111

def select_day(date, options = {})
  day_options = []

  1.upto(31) do |day|
    day_options << ((date.kind_of?(Fixnum) ? date : date.day) == day ?
      "<option selected=\"selected\">#{day}</option>\n" : 
      "<option>#{day}</option>\n"
    )
  end

  select_html("day", day_options, options[:prefix], options[:include_blank], options[:discard_type])
end

#select_hour(datetime, options = {}) ⇒ Object

Returns a select tag with options for each of the hours 0 through 23 with the current hour selected. The hour can also be substituted for a hour number.



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# File 'lib/action_view/helpers/date_helper.rb', line 96

def select_hour(datetime, options = {})
  hour_options = []

  0.upto(23) do |hour|
    hour_options << ((datetime.kind_of?(Fixnum) ? datetime : datetime.hour) == hour ?
      "<option selected=\"selected\">#{leading_zero_on_single_digits(hour)}</option>\n" : 
      "<option>#{leading_zero_on_single_digits(hour)}</option>\n"
    )
  end

  select_html("hour", hour_options, options[:prefix], options[:include_blank], options[:discard_type])
end

#select_minute(datetime, options = {}) ⇒ Object

Returns a select tag with options for each of the minutes 0 through 59 with the current minute selected. The minute can also be substituted for a minute number.



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# File 'lib/action_view/helpers/date_helper.rb', line 81

def select_minute(datetime, options = {})
  minute_options = []

  0.upto(59) do |minute|
    minute_options << ((datetime.kind_of?(Fixnum) ? datetime : datetime.min) == minute ?
      "<option selected=\"selected\">#{leading_zero_on_single_digits(minute)}</option>\n" : 
      "<option>#{leading_zero_on_single_digits(minute)}</option>\n"
    )
  end

  select_html("minute", minute_options, options[:prefix], options[:include_blank], options[:discard_type])
end

#select_month(date, options = {}) ⇒ Object

Returns a select tag with options for each of the months January through December with the current month selected. The month names are presented as keys (what’s shown to the user) and the month numbers (1-12) are used as values (what’s submitted to the server). It’s also possible to use month numbers for the presentation instead of names – set the :use_month_numbers key in options to true for this to happen. If you want both numbers and names, set the :add_month_numbers key in options to true. Examples:

select_month(Date.today)                             # Will use keys like "January", "March"
select_month(Date.today, :use_month_numbers => true) # Will use keys like "1", "3"
select_month(Date.today, :add_month_numbers => true) # Will use keys like "1 - January", "3 - March"



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# File 'lib/action_view/helpers/date_helper.rb', line 133

def select_month(date, options = {})
  month_options = []

  1.upto(12) do |month_number|
    month_name = if options[:use_month_numbers] 
      month_number
    elsif options[:add_month_numbers]
      month_number.to_s + " - " + Date::MONTHNAMES[month_number]
    else
      Date::MONTHNAMES[month_number]
    end

    month_options << ((date.kind_of?(Fixnum) ? date : date.month) == month_number ?
      %(<option value="#{month_number}" selected="selected">#{month_name}</option>\n) : 
      %(<option value="#{month_number}">#{month_name}</option>\n)
    )
  end

  select_html("month", month_options, options[:prefix], options[:include_blank], options[:discard_type])
end

#select_year(date, options = {}) ⇒ Object

Returns a select tag with options for each of the five years on each side of the current, which is selected. The five year radius can be changed using the :start_year and :end_year keys in the options. The date can also be substituted for a year given as a number. Example:

select_year(Date.today, :start_year => 1992, :end_year => 2007)



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# File 'lib/action_view/helpers/date_helper.rb', line 159

def select_year(date, options = {})
  year_options = []
  y = date.kind_of?(Fixnum) ? (y = (date == 0) ? Date.today.year : date) : date.year
  default_start_year, default_end_year = y-5, y+5

  (options[:start_year] || default_start_year).upto(options[:end_year] || default_end_year) do |year|
    year_options << ((date.kind_of?(Fixnum) ? date : date.year) == year ?
      "<option selected=\"selected\">#{year}</option>\n" : 
      "<option>#{year}</option>\n"
    )
  end

  select_html("year", year_options, options[:prefix], options[:include_blank], options[:discard_type])
end