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_name, 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 accepts all the keys that each of the individual select builders do (like :use_month_numbers for select_month) as well as a range of discard options. The discard options are :discard_year, :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. It’s also possible to explicitly set the order of the tags using the :order option with an array of symbols :year, :month and :day in the desired order. Symbols may be omitted and the respective select is not included.

Passing :disabled => true as part of the options will make elements inaccessible for change.

NOTE: Discarded selects will default to 1. So if no month select is available, January will be assumed.

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)
date_select("post", "written_on", :order => [:day, :month, :year])
date_select("user", "birthday",   :order => [:month, :day])

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 79

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

#datetime_select(object_name, 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 90

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

#distance_of_time_in_words(from_time, to_time = 0, include_seconds = false) ⇒ Object

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

Integers are interpreted as seconds. So, distance_of_time_in_words(50) returns “less than a minute”.

Set include_seconds to true if you want more detailed approximations if distance < 1 minute



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# File 'lib/action_view/helpers/date_helper.rb', line 24

def distance_of_time_in_words(from_time, to_time = 0, include_seconds = false)
  from_time = from_time.to_time if from_time.respond_to?(:to_time)
  to_time = to_time.to_time if to_time.respond_to?(:to_time)
  distance_in_minutes = (((to_time - from_time).abs)/60).round
  distance_in_seconds = ((to_time - from_time).abs).round

  case distance_in_minutes
    when 0..1
      return (distance_in_minutes==0) ? 'less than a minute' : '1 minute' unless include_seconds
      case distance_in_seconds
        when 0..5   then 'less than 5 seconds'
        when 6..10  then 'less than 10 seconds'
        when 11..20 then 'less than 20 seconds'
        when 21..40 then 'half a minute'
        when 41..59 then 'less than a minute'
        else             '1 minute'
      end
                          
    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

#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 95

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) pre-selected with the datetime.



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# File 'lib/action_view/helpers/date_helper.rb', line 100

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. Override the field name using the :field_name option, ‘day’ by default.



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# File 'lib/action_view/helpers/date_helper.rb', line 162

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

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

  select_html(options[:field_name] || 'day', day_options, options[:prefix], options[:include_blank], options[:discard_type], options[:disabled])
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. Override the field name using the :field_name option, ‘hour’ by default.



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# File 'lib/action_view/helpers/date_helper.rb', line 146

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

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

  select_html(options[:field_name] || 'hour', hour_options, options[:prefix], options[:include_blank], options[:discard_type], options[:disabled])
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. Also can return a select tag with options by minute_step from 0 through 59 with the 00 minute selected The minute can also be substituted for a minute number. Override the field name using the :field_name option, ‘minute’ by default.



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# File 'lib/action_view/helpers/date_helper.rb', line 130

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

  0.step(59, options[:minute_step] || 1) do |minute|
    minute_options << ((datetime && (datetime.kind_of?(Fixnum) ? datetime : datetime.min) == minute) ?
      %(<option value="#{leading_zero_on_single_digits(minute)}" selected="selected">#{leading_zero_on_single_digits(minute)}</option>\n) :
      %(<option value="#{leading_zero_on_single_digits(minute)}">#{leading_zero_on_single_digits(minute)}</option>\n)
    )
  end

  select_html(options[:field_name] || 'minute', minute_options, options[:prefix], options[:include_blank], options[:discard_type], options[:disabled])
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"

Override the field name using the :field_name option, ‘month’ by default.

If you would prefer to show month names as abbreviations, set the :use_short_month key in options to true.



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# File 'lib/action_view/helpers/date_helper.rb', line 189

def select_month(date, options = {})
  month_options = []
  month_names = options[:use_short_month] ? Date::ABBR_MONTHNAMES : Date::MONTHNAMES

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

    month_options << ((date && (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(options[:field_name] || 'month', month_options, options[:prefix], options[:include_blank], options[:discard_type], options[:disabled])
end

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

Returns a select tag with options for each of the seconds 0 through 59 with the current second selected. The second can also be substituted for a second number. Override the field name using the :field_name option, ‘second’ by default.



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# File 'lib/action_view/helpers/date_helper.rb', line 113

def select_second(datetime, options = {})
  second_options = []

  0.upto(59) do |second|
    second_options << ((datetime && (datetime.kind_of?(Fixnum) ? datetime : datetime.sec) == second) ?
      %(<option value="#{leading_zero_on_single_digits(second)}" selected="selected">#{leading_zero_on_single_digits(second)}</option>\n) :
      %(<option value="#{leading_zero_on_single_digits(second)}">#{leading_zero_on_single_digits(second)}</option>\n)
    )
  end

  select_html(options[:field_name] || 'second', second_options, options[:prefix], options[:include_blank], options[:discard_type], options[:disabled])
end

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

Returns a set of html select-tags (one for hour and minute)



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# File 'lib/action_view/helpers/date_helper.rb', line 106

def select_time(datetime = Time.now, options = {})
  h = select_hour(datetime, options) + select_minute(datetime, options) + (options[:include_seconds] ? select_second(datetime, options) : '')
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. Both ascending and descending year lists are supported by making :start_year less than or greater than :end_year. The date can also be substituted for a year given as a number. Example:

select_year(Date.today, :start_year => 1992, :end_year => 2007)  # ascending year values
select_year(Date.today, :start_year => 2005, :end_year => 1900)  # descending year values

Override the field name using the :field_name option, ‘year’ by default.



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# File 'lib/action_view/helpers/date_helper.rb', line 220

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

  start_year, end_year = (options[:start_year] || y-5), (options[:end_year] || y+5)
  step_val = start_year < end_year ? 1 : -1

  start_year.step(end_year, step_val) do |year|
    year_options << ((date && (date.kind_of?(Fixnum) ? date : date.year) == year) ?
      %(<option value="#{year}" selected="selected">#{year}</option>\n) :
      %(<option value="#{year}">#{year}</option>\n)
    )
  end

  select_html(options[:field_name] || 'year', year_options, options[:prefix], options[:include_blank], options[:discard_type], options[:disabled])
end

#time_ago_in_words(from_time, include_seconds = false) ⇒ Object Also known as: distance_of_time_in_words_to_now

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 51

def time_ago_in_words(from_time, include_seconds = false)
  distance_of_time_in_words(from_time, Time.now, include_seconds)
end