NAME
Jifty::DateTime - a DateTime subclass that knows about Jifty users
SYNOPSIS
use Jifty::DateTime;
# Get the current date and time
my $dt = Jifty::DateTime->now;
# Print out the pretty date (i.e., today, tomorrow, yesterday, or 2007-09-11)
Jifty->web->out( $dt->friendly_date );
# Better date parsing
my $dt_from_human = Jifty::DateTime->new_from_string("next Saturday");DESCRIPTION
Jifty natively stores timestamps in the database in GMT. Dates are stored without timezone. This class loads and parses dates and sets them into the proper timezone.
To use this DateTime class to it's fullest ability, you'll need to add a time_zone method to your application's user object class. This is the class returned by "user_object" in Jifty::CurrentUser. It must return a value valid for using as an argument to DateTime's set_time_zone() method.
new ARGS
See "new" in DateTime. If we get what appears to be a date, then we keep this in the floating datetime. Otherwise, set this object's timezone to the current user's time zone, if the current user has a method called time_zone.
now ARGS
See "now" in DateTime. If a time_zone argument is passed in, then this method is effectively a no-op.
OTHERWISE this will always set this object's timezone to the current user's timezone (or UTC if that's not available). Without this, DateTime's now will set the timezone to UTC always (by passing time_zone => 'UTC' to Jifty::DateTime::new. We want Jifty::DateTime to always reflect the current user's timezone (unless otherwise requested, of course).
from_epoch ARGS
See "from_epoch" in DateTime and "now" in Jifty::DateTime.
current_user_has_timezone
Return timezone if the current user has one. This is determined by checking to see if the current user has a user object. If it has a user object, then it checks to see if that user object has a time_zone method and uses that to determine the value.
set_current_user_timezone [DEFAULT_TZ]
Set this Jifty::DateTime's timezone to the current user's timezone. If that's not available, then use the passed in DEFAULT_TZ (or GMT if not passed in). Returns the Jifty::DateTime object itself.
new_from_string STRING
Take some user defined string like "tomorrow" and turn it into a Jifty::Datetime object. If the string appears to be a _date_, keep it in the floating timezone, otherwise, set it to the current user's timezone.
As of this writing, this uses Date::Manip along with some internal hacks to alter the way Date::Manip normally interprets week day names. This may change in the future.
friendly_date
Returns the date given by this Jifty::DateTime object. It will display "today" for today, "tomorrow" for tomorrow, or "yesterday" for yesterday. Any other date will be displayed in ymd format.
WHY?
There are other ways to do some of these things and some of the decisions here may seem arbitrary, particularly if you read the code. They are.
These things are valuable to applications built by Best Practical Solutions, so it's here. If you disagree with the policy or need to do it differently, then you probably need to implement something yourself using a DateTime::Format::* class or your own code.
Parts may be cleaned up and the API cleared up a bit more in the future.
SEE ALSO
DateTime, DateTime::TimeZone, Jifty::CurrentUser
LICENSE
Jifty is Copyright 2005-2007 Best Practical Solutions, LLC. Jifty is distributed under the same terms as Perl itself.