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Posted to user@velocity.apache.org by "Townson, Chris" <C....@nature.com> on 2006/04/27 17:57:13 UTC
DateTool and human-friendly date formats
Hi,
I'm need to write a method which outputs a supplied Date object in a "human-friendly" format (e.g. "5 minutes ago", "3 hours ago", "4 days ago" etc)
My initial impulse was to sit down and sub-class DateTool, adding a method that compares the supplied date to the current date and so on ...
... In the interests of DRY: has anyone here already done anything like this or got tips/tricks?
Chris
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Re: DateTool and human-friendly date formats
Posted by Nathan Bubna <nb...@gmail.com>.
Christoph, that is one serious macro you've got! ;-) Just so i never
have to see one of those again, i am going to make sure and get
"standalone" toolbox management into VelocityTools asap. :)
Chris, if you come across a way to do this in a DateTool subclass or
write the code yourself, i would happily test it out and add it to
DateTool. this seems like a very useful feature.
On 4/28/06, apache@recks.org <ap...@recks.org> wrote:
> Hi Chris,
>
> this seems to be a classical "view" task. You can put
> the code into a tool (possibly a subclass of DateTool);
> but you can also accommodate such a thing in a macro.
>
> I have done something similar (OK, not the cleanest approach,
> but it works. Part of this could have been done with the
> DateTool and NumberTool, but I don't have the ToolboxManager
> in my commandline velocity utility...):
>
> ## ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> ## convenience helper tools:
> ## ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> #set( $Integer = 1 )
> #set( $Long = $Integer.longValue() )
> #set( $cdLimit = $Long.valueOf("640000000") )## example use of Long.class
> ##
> ## ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> ## convenience directive to invoke a method and ignore the return value
> ## ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> #macro( call $foo )#if($foo)#**##end#end
> ##
> ## ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> ## Number stringify helpers
> ## ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> #macro( digits4 $number )#*
> *##set( $id = "$number" )#* -- access the macro paramter, ensure its a String
> *##set( $id = "0000$id.trim()" )#* -- prepend the padding, clipping whitespace artefacts
> *##set( $len = $id.length() - 4 )#* -- compute the offset for the rest length
> *#$id.substring($len)## -- emit the resulting padded string
> #end
> #macro( digits2 $number )#*
> *##set( $id = "$number" )#*
> *##set( $id = "00$id.trim()" )#*
> *##set( $len = $id.length() - 2 )#*
> *#$id.substring($len)##
> #end
> ##
> ## ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> ## Date operations and formatting
> ## ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> #macro( dateStr $d )#*
> *##set( $y = $d.year + 1900 )#*
> *##digits4($y)#digits2($d.month)#digits2($d.date)#digits2($d.hours)#digits2($d.minutes)#digits2($d.seconds)##
> #end
> ##
> #macro( addDateDuration $d $duration )##
> #set( $d = $Integer.parseInt($duration) )
> ##duration = $duration = $d
> #set( $Y = $Integer.parseInt($startDay.substring(0,4)) - 1900 )
> #set( $M = $Integer.parseInt($startDay.substring(4,6)) )
> #set( $D = $Integer.parseInt($startDay.substring(6,8)) )
> #set( $h = $Integer.parseInt($startTime.substring(0,2)) )
> #set( $m = $Integer.parseInt($startTime.substring(2,4)) )
> #set( $s = $Integer.parseInt($startTime.substring(4,6)) )
> ##uncomment for debugging: #digits2($Y)-#digits2($M)-#digits2($D) #digits2($s):#digits2($m):#digits2($s)#**#
> #set( $D = $D + ($d / 86400) )
> #set( $d = $d - (($d / 86400) * 86400) )
> #set( $h = $h + ($d / 3600) )
> #set( $d = $d - (($d / 3600) * 3600) )
> #set( $m = $m + ($d / 60) )
> #set( $d = $d - (($d / 60) * 60) )
> #set( $s = $s + $d )
> ##uncomment for debugging: #digits2($Y)-#digits2($M)-#digits2($D) #digits2($s):#digits2($m):#digits2($s)#**#
> #set( $d = $date.clone() )
> #call( $d.setTime( $Integer.longValue() ) )
> #call( $d.setYear( $Y ) )
> #call( $d.setMonth( $M ) )
> #call( $d.setDate( $D ) )
> #call( $d.setHours( $h ) )
> #call( $d.setMinutes( $m ) )
> #call( $d.setSeconds( $s ) )
> #dateStr( $d )##
> #end
> ##
> ## ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> ## Macro to write a text to a file.
> ## ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> #macro( fileWrite $filename $text )
> #set( $out = $Class.newInstance("java.io.FileOutputStream", $filename) )
> #set( $data = $text.getBytes() )
> #call( $out.write($data) )
> #call( $out.close() )
> #end
> ##
> ## example of a "switch" statement:
> #macro( SensorName $productId )#*
> *##if( $productId.startsWith("ASA") )ASAR#*
> *##elseif( $productId.startsWith("ATS") )ATSR#*
> *##elseif( $productId.startsWith("GOM") )GOMOS#*
> *##elseif( $productId.startsWith("MER") )MERIS#*
> *##elseif( $productId.startsWith("MIP") )MIPAS#*
> *##elseif( $productId.startsWith("RA2") )ALTIMETER#*
> *##elseif( $productId.startsWith("SCI") )SCIAMACHY#*
> *##elseif( $productId.startsWith("DOR") )DORIS#*
> *##elseif( $productId.startsWith("MWR") )MICROWAVE#*
> *##else#**#UNKNOWN#*
> *##end##
> #end
> ...
> <SensorName> #SensorName( $productId )#*this comment is needed to avoid the macro gobbling the EOL*#
> ...
> <TrackNo> $Integer.parseInt($relativeOrbit)
> ...
> <AcqEndDateTime> #addDateDuration( "$startDay$startTime" $duration ).000
>
>
> It's your freedom to setup either a tool or a macro to
> assist generating the "view" output you need.
>
> Cheers,
> Christoph
>
> Townson, Chris wrote:
> > Hi,
> >
> > I'm need to write a method which outputs a supplied Date object in a "human-friendly" format (e.g. "5 minutes ago", "3 hours ago", "4 days ago" etc)
> >
> > My initial impulse was to sit down and sub-class DateTool, adding a method that compares the supplied date to the current date and so on ...
> >
> > ... In the interests of DRY: has anyone here already done anything like this or got tips/tricks?
> >
> > Chris
> >
> > ********************************************************************************
> > DISCLAIMER: This e-mail is confidential and should not be used by anyone who is
> > not the original intended recipient. If you have received this e-mail in error
> > please inform the sender and delete it from your mailbox or any other storage
> > mechanism. Neither Macmillan Publishers Limited nor any of its agents accept
> > liability for any statements made which are clearly the sender's own and not
> > expressly made on behalf of Macmillan Publishers Limited or one of its agents.
> > Please note that neither Macmillan Publishers Limited nor any of its agents
> > accept any responsibility for viruses that may be contained in this e-mail or
> > its attachments and it is your responsibility to scan the e-mail and
> > attachments (if any). No contracts may be concluded on behalf of Macmillan
> > Publishers Limited or its agents by means of e-mail communication. Macmillan
> > Publishers Limited Registered in England and Wales with registered number 785998
> > Registered Office Brunel Road, Houndmills, Basingstoke RG21 6XS
> > ********************************************************************************
>
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> For additional commands, e-mail: velocity-user-help@jakarta.apache.org
>
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Re: DateTool and human-friendly date formats
Posted by ap...@recks.org.
Hi Chris,
this seems to be a classical "view" task. You can put
the code into a tool (possibly a subclass of DateTool);
but you can also accommodate such a thing in a macro.
I have done something similar (OK, not the cleanest approach,
but it works. Part of this could have been done with the
DateTool and NumberTool, but I don't have the ToolboxManager
in my commandline velocity utility...):
## ------------------------------------------------------------------------
## convenience helper tools:
## ------------------------------------------------------------------------
#set( $Integer = 1 )
#set( $Long = $Integer.longValue() )
#set( $cdLimit = $Long.valueOf("640000000") )## example use of Long.class
##
## ------------------------------------------------------------------------
## convenience directive to invoke a method and ignore the return value
## ------------------------------------------------------------------------
#macro( call $foo )#if($foo)#**##end#end
##
## ------------------------------------------------------------------------
## Number stringify helpers
## ------------------------------------------------------------------------
#macro( digits4 $number )#*
*##set( $id = "$number" )#* -- access the macro paramter, ensure its a String
*##set( $id = "0000$id.trim()" )#* -- prepend the padding, clipping whitespace artefacts
*##set( $len = $id.length() - 4 )#* -- compute the offset for the rest length
*#$id.substring($len)## -- emit the resulting padded string
#end
#macro( digits2 $number )#*
*##set( $id = "$number" )#*
*##set( $id = "00$id.trim()" )#*
*##set( $len = $id.length() - 2 )#*
*#$id.substring($len)##
#end
##
## ------------------------------------------------------------------------
## Date operations and formatting
## ------------------------------------------------------------------------
#macro( dateStr $d )#*
*##set( $y = $d.year + 1900 )#*
*##digits4($y)#digits2($d.month)#digits2($d.date)#digits2($d.hours)#digits2($d.minutes)#digits2($d.seconds)##
#end
##
#macro( addDateDuration $d $duration )##
#set( $d = $Integer.parseInt($duration) )
##duration = $duration = $d
#set( $Y = $Integer.parseInt($startDay.substring(0,4)) - 1900 )
#set( $M = $Integer.parseInt($startDay.substring(4,6)) )
#set( $D = $Integer.parseInt($startDay.substring(6,8)) )
#set( $h = $Integer.parseInt($startTime.substring(0,2)) )
#set( $m = $Integer.parseInt($startTime.substring(2,4)) )
#set( $s = $Integer.parseInt($startTime.substring(4,6)) )
##uncomment for debugging: #digits2($Y)-#digits2($M)-#digits2($D) #digits2($s):#digits2($m):#digits2($s)#**#
#set( $D = $D + ($d / 86400) )
#set( $d = $d - (($d / 86400) * 86400) )
#set( $h = $h + ($d / 3600) )
#set( $d = $d - (($d / 3600) * 3600) )
#set( $m = $m + ($d / 60) )
#set( $d = $d - (($d / 60) * 60) )
#set( $s = $s + $d )
##uncomment for debugging: #digits2($Y)-#digits2($M)-#digits2($D) #digits2($s):#digits2($m):#digits2($s)#**#
#set( $d = $date.clone() )
#call( $d.setTime( $Integer.longValue() ) )
#call( $d.setYear( $Y ) )
#call( $d.setMonth( $M ) )
#call( $d.setDate( $D ) )
#call( $d.setHours( $h ) )
#call( $d.setMinutes( $m ) )
#call( $d.setSeconds( $s ) )
#dateStr( $d )##
#end
##
## ------------------------------------------------------------------------
## Macro to write a text to a file.
## ------------------------------------------------------------------------
#macro( fileWrite $filename $text )
#set( $out = $Class.newInstance("java.io.FileOutputStream", $filename) )
#set( $data = $text.getBytes() )
#call( $out.write($data) )
#call( $out.close() )
#end
##
## example of a "switch" statement:
#macro( SensorName $productId )#*
*##if( $productId.startsWith("ASA") )ASAR#*
*##elseif( $productId.startsWith("ATS") )ATSR#*
*##elseif( $productId.startsWith("GOM") )GOMOS#*
*##elseif( $productId.startsWith("MER") )MERIS#*
*##elseif( $productId.startsWith("MIP") )MIPAS#*
*##elseif( $productId.startsWith("RA2") )ALTIMETER#*
*##elseif( $productId.startsWith("SCI") )SCIAMACHY#*
*##elseif( $productId.startsWith("DOR") )DORIS#*
*##elseif( $productId.startsWith("MWR") )MICROWAVE#*
*##else#**#UNKNOWN#*
*##end##
#end
...
<SensorName> #SensorName( $productId )#*this comment is needed to avoid the macro gobbling the EOL*#
...
<TrackNo> $Integer.parseInt($relativeOrbit)
...
<AcqEndDateTime> #addDateDuration( "$startDay$startTime" $duration ).000
It's your freedom to setup either a tool or a macro to
assist generating the "view" output you need.
Cheers,
Christoph
Townson, Chris wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I'm need to write a method which outputs a supplied Date object in a "human-friendly" format (e.g. "5 minutes ago", "3 hours ago", "4 days ago" etc)
>
> My initial impulse was to sit down and sub-class DateTool, adding a method that compares the supplied date to the current date and so on ...
>
> ... In the interests of DRY: has anyone here already done anything like this or got tips/tricks?
>
> Chris
>
> ********************************************************************************
> DISCLAIMER: This e-mail is confidential and should not be used by anyone who is
> not the original intended recipient. If you have received this e-mail in error
> please inform the sender and delete it from your mailbox or any other storage
> mechanism. Neither Macmillan Publishers Limited nor any of its agents accept
> liability for any statements made which are clearly the sender's own and not
> expressly made on behalf of Macmillan Publishers Limited or one of its agents.
> Please note that neither Macmillan Publishers Limited nor any of its agents
> accept any responsibility for viruses that may be contained in this e-mail or
> its attachments and it is your responsibility to scan the e-mail and
> attachments (if any). No contracts may be concluded on behalf of Macmillan
> Publishers Limited or its agents by means of e-mail communication. Macmillan
> Publishers Limited Registered in England and Wales with registered number 785998
> Registered Office Brunel Road, Houndmills, Basingstoke RG21 6XS
> ********************************************************************************
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