How to output a different date format. Rails

Question

I am using Ruby On Rails 4 and twitter-bootstrap-rails, to the client wants to dislay dates in this format:

14 September 2013 Well pretty cool, there we go:


    var start = $("#project_start_date").datepicker({
        format: 'dd MM yyyy',
        autoclose: true
    })

However when the date is saved to the database it is saved as "2013-09-14". Well cool, however when I want to edit the page I see the following:

2013-09-14 as the output of the field :( Not good hey.

So how would you output the date in a given format (I probably need @start_date.stftime("%d %B %Y").

Just wanted to say, that:

getter methods didn't do the job: def start_date() @start_date.stftime("%d %B %Y") end
before_validation also didn't do:

 
before_validation :date_validation

  def date_validation
    @start_date = self.start_date.strftime("%D %m %Y")
    @end_date =   self.end_date.strftime("%d %m %Y")
  end

PS I am using Postgres.

Are you saving the date as as a string or date in the database? — Zero Fiber, Sep 14 '13 at 06:06
When you say 'didn't do the job', you mean it didn't work as expected or was there an error? If so, what was the error? — Rajesh Kolappakam, Sep 14 '13 at 06:08
In any case, instead of adding the date formatting code in your model, you should consider using `draper` or any other presentation layer concept. http://railscasts.com/episodes/286-draper — Rajesh Kolappakam, Sep 14 '13 at 06:24

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered Sep 14 '13 at 06:41

1

Check whether the date is being stored as a string in the database as thats what it seems.

Try generating a migration and making sure you have a date column, something like this

def change    
   change_column :table_name, :start_date, :datetime
   change_column :table_name, :end_date, :datetime
end

That way, you can then use strftime to format it as you mentioned above.

answered Sep 14 '13 at 06:41

derekyau

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It's saved as date in PostgreSQL – Jackie Chan Sep 14 '13 at 09:58

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Sep 14 '13 at 06:31

0

To change the format in which the date is saved in the database, add this piece of code to the environment.rb file.

# environment.rb :

ActiveSupport::CoreExtensions::Date::Conversions::DATE_FORMATS.merge!(
     :default => "%d %B %Y"
)

answered Sep 14 '13 at 06:31

Zero Fiber

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environment.rb:7:in `': uninitialized constant ActiveSupport::CoreExtensions (NameError) – Jackie Chan Sep 14 '13 at 09:59

score 0 · Answer 3 · edited May 23 '17 at 11:45

0

I decided to make this old Q complete by answering it.

Aside from using draper that was mentioned in a comment, the easiest way is to override AR getter, not in a validation, i.e.

# in your model
def start_date
  self[:start_date].strftime("%D %m %Y")
end

edited May 23 '17 at 11:45

Community

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answered Dec 10 '16 at 00:31

mlt

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How to output a different date format. Rails

3 Answers3