hi, stuck with using the date_select tag in a search screen.
So in my search form i've got this...
<%=date_select(:from, '', :start_year => 1950, :include_blank => true)%>
which gives back this in the param...
"select * from users where created_at >= '#{params[:from]}'"
and this in the sql string
"select * from users where created_at >= '(3i)4(1i)1953(2i)5'"
any ideas how to get params[:from] to return something a bit more like a date, e.g. '1953/4/5'
really stuck?
John Griffiths wrote:
any ideas how to get params[:from] to return something a bit more like a date, e.g. '1953/4/5'
params[:from].to_s(:db)
hth ilan
Look at your development.log (or the console window if you've got your server running there). You can see that the parameter from is actually a hash {'(1i)' => '1953', '(2i)' => '5', '(3i)' => 4}, ie. the date components are passed separately. If instead of using date_select you use select_date, you'll even get friendly names in there ({'year' => 1953, 'month' => 5, 'day' => 3}). All you need to do is put those back together into a date. Somehow this feels like the most frequently asked question this week, so the other threads about date_select & select_date might also help you.
Fred
Totally agree Fred, I had a hunt around in the forums and there were masses of posts on the subject but no clear resolution.
I thought it best to post as much info as I could to try to resolve this, glad about the response.
I tried using select_date but couldn't get it working how i wanted. I did find a post suggesting passing the param into a date object, thanks Ilan for your solution.
Will try this,
found this, looks along the lines...
ugh... everytime i tried using that i got a 'wrong number of arguments' error
wrote a function to split the hash up and put it back together as a good date...
def convert_date(obj) @a = '' @b = '' @c = ''
for @d in params[:reg_from] if @d.to_s.index('(1i)') : @a = @d.to_s[4,4] end if @d.to_s.index('(2i)') : @b = @d.to_s[4,2] end if @d.to_s.index('(3i)') : @c = @d.to_s[4,2] end end
return "#{@a}-#{@b}-#{@c}" end
...not the best way but gets results, any advances on this solution?
sorrry....
def convert_date(obj) @a = '' @b = '' @c = ''
for @d in obj if @d.to_s.index('(1i)') : @a = @d.to_s[4,4] end if @d.to_s.index('(2i)') : @b = @d.to_s[4,2] end if @d.to_s.index('(3i)') : @c = @d.to_s[4,2] end end
return "#{@a}-#{@b}-#{@c}" end
sorrry....
There's easier: Time.mktime(params[:somedate]['(1i)'], params[:somedate]['(2i)'], params[:somedate]['(3i)']) (or use Date::civil instead of Time.mktime if you want an instance of date rather than time).
Fred
Thanks Fred, I tried hunting around for some extra info and examples for converting a string to a date or time but couldn't find it (nothing in the agile & programming books), appreciate this solution.
I'll test it out and see what happens,
all the best,
John.
Thanks, solved it in the end with your help, really appreciated.
def convert_date(obj) return Date.new(obj['(1i)'].to_i,obj['(2i)'].to_i,obj['(3i)'].to_i) end
had to put the .to_i to convert each to an integer
posted on my blog for posterity, glad this is over,
big thanks Fred,
http://www.red91.com/articles/2008/03/19/date_select-conversion
Frederick, If this is such a commonly asked question then why doesn't someone write an easy to follow example of taking a date from user input on a non(form_for) view and then load it into the model.date_field. I swear I've looked at countless examples on the internet and no one takes it home. Could someone be a prince and make this happen? Kathleen
Frederick, If this is such a commonly asked question then why doesn't someone write an easy to follow example of taking a date from user input on a non(form_for) view and then load it into the model.date_field. I swear I've looked at countless examples on the internet and no one takes it home.
Looks like John did just that 
I must admit I'm a bit surprised: it
shouldn't be that hard to figure out, especially compared to a lo of
the conceptually much harder things in ruby and/or rails.
Fred
Thanks Frederick and Kathy, appreciate that, 
So happy we cracked that one, really had me stumped, thanks again for helping out.
Take care and have a great Easter hols, you've earned it!
John.