Jifty::DateTime(3pm)					User Contributed Perl Documentation				      Jifty::DateTime(3pm)

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's user object has a method called "time_zone".

   now ARGS
       See "now" in DateTime. If a time_zone argument is passed in, then this wrapper is effectively a no-op.

       OTHERWISE this will always set this object's timezone to the current user's timezone. 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. This handles the common mistake of "from_epoch($epoch)" as well.

   current_user [CURRENTUSER]
       When setting the current user, update the timezone appropriately.

       If an "undef" current user is passed, this method will find the correct current user and set the time zone.

   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_current_user_time_zone [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.

       If your subclass changes this method, please override "set_current_user_timezone" not "set_current_user_time_zone", since the latter is
       merely an alias for the former.

   new_from_string STRING[, ARGS]
       Take some user defined string like "tomorrow" and turn it into a "Jifty::Datetime" object. If a "time_zone" argument is passed in, that is
       used for the input time zone.

       If the string appears to be a _date_, the output time zone will be floating.  Otherwise, the output time zone will be the current user's
       time zone.

       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.

       We currently shift by "24 hours" to detect yesterday and tomorrow, rather than "1 day" because of daylight saving issues. "1 day" can
       result in invalid local time errors.

   is_date
       Returns whether or not this "Jifty::DateTime" object represents a date (without a specific time). Dates in Jifty are in the floating time
       zone and are set to midnight.

   get_tz_offset
       Returns the offset for a time zone. If there is no current user, or the current user's time zone is unset, then UTC will be used.

       The optional datetime argument lets you calculate an offset for some time other than "right now".

   jifty_serialize_format
       This returns a DateTime (or string) consistent with Jifty's date 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 2005-2010 Best Practical Solutions, LLC.  Jifty is distributed under the same terms as Perl itself.

perl v5.14.2							    2011-01-24						      Jifty::DateTime(3pm)