Module ActionView::Helpers::DateHelper
In: vendor/rails/actionpack/lib/action_view/helpers/date_helper.rb

The Date Helper primarily creates select/option tags for different kinds of dates and date elements. All of the select-type methods share a number of common options that are as follows:

  • :prefix - overwrites the default prefix of "date" used for the select names. So specifying "birthday" would give birthday[month] instead of date[month] if passed to the select_month method.
  • :include_blank - set to true if it should be possible to set an empty date.
  • :discard_type - set to true if you want to discard the type part of the select name. If set to true, the select_month method would use simply "date" (which can be overwritten using :prefix) instead of "date[month]".

Methods

Constants

DEFAULT_PREFIX = 'date' unless const_defined?('DEFAULT_PREFIX')

Public Instance methods

Returns a set of select tags (one for year, month, and day) pre-selected for accessing a specified date-based attribute (identified by method) on an object assigned to the template (identified by object). It’s possible to tailor the selects through the options hash, which both accepts all the keys that each of the individual select builders does (like :use_month_numbers for select_month) and a range of discard options. The discard options are :discard_year, :discard_month and :discard_day. Set to true, they’ll drop the respective select. Discarding the month select will also automatically discard the day select. It’s also possible to explicitly set the order of the tags using the :order option with an array of symbols :year, :month and :day in the desired order. Symbols may be omitted and the respective select is not included.

NOTE: Discarded selects will default to 1. So if no month select is available, January will be assumed.

Examples:

  date_select("post", "written_on")
  date_select("post", "written_on", :start_year => 1995)
  date_select("post", "written_on", :start_year => 1995, :use_month_numbers => true,
                                    :discard_day => true, :include_blank => true)
  date_select("post", "written_on", :order => [:day, :month, :year])
  date_select("user", "birthday",   :order => [:month, :day])

The selects are prepared for multi-parameter assignment to an Active Record object.

[Source]

    # File vendor/rails/actionpack/lib/action_view/helpers/date_helper.rb, line 77
77:       def date_select(object, method, options = {})
78:         InstanceTag.new(object, method, self).to_date_select_tag(options)
79:       end

Returns a set of select tags (one for year, month, day, hour, and minute) pre-selected for accessing a specified datetime-based attribute (identified by method) on an object assigned to the template (identified by object). Examples:

  datetime_select("post", "written_on")
  datetime_select("post", "written_on", :start_year => 1995)

The selects are prepared for multi-parameter assignment to an Active Record object.

[Source]

    # File vendor/rails/actionpack/lib/action_view/helpers/date_helper.rb, line 88
88:       def datetime_select(object, method, options = {})
89:         InstanceTag.new(object, method, self).to_datetime_select_tag(options)
90:       end

Reports the approximate distance in time between to Time objects or integers. For example, if the distance is 47 minutes, it’ll return "about 1 hour". See the source for the complete wording list.

Integers are interpreted as seconds. So, distance_of_time_in_words(50) returns "less than a minute".

Set include_seconds to true if you want more detailed approximations if distance < 1 minute

[Source]

    # File vendor/rails/actionpack/lib/action_view/helpers/date_helper.rb, line 24
24:       def distance_of_time_in_words(from_time, to_time = 0, include_seconds = false)
25:         from_time = from_time.to_time if from_time.respond_to?(:to_time)
26:         to_time = to_time.to_time if to_time.respond_to?(:to_time)
27:         distance_in_minutes = (((to_time - from_time).abs)/60).round
28:         distance_in_seconds = ((to_time - from_time).abs).round
29: 
30:         case distance_in_minutes
31:           when 0..1
32:             return (distance_in_minutes==0) ? 'less than a minute' : '1 minute' unless include_seconds
33:             case distance_in_seconds
34:               when 0..5   then 'less than 5 seconds'
35:               when 6..10  then 'less than 10 seconds'
36:               when 11..20 then 'less than 20 seconds'
37:               when 21..40 then 'half a minute'
38:               when 41..59 then 'less than a minute'
39:               else             '1 minute'
40:             end
41:                                 
42:           when 2..45      then "#{distance_in_minutes} minutes"
43:           when 46..90     then 'about 1 hour'
44:           when 90..1440   then "about #{(distance_in_minutes.to_f / 60.0).round} hours"
45:           when 1441..2880 then '1 day'
46:           else                 "#{(distance_in_minutes / 1440).round} days"
47:         end
48:       end
distance_of_time_in_words_to_now(from_time, include_seconds = false)

Alias for time_ago_in_words

Returns a set of html select-tags (one for year, month, and day) pre-selected with the date.

[Source]

    # File vendor/rails/actionpack/lib/action_view/helpers/date_helper.rb, line 93
93:       def select_date(date = Date.today, options = {})
94:         select_year(date, options) + select_month(date, options) + select_day(date, options)
95:       end

Returns a set of html select-tags (one for year, month, day, hour, and minute) preselected the datetime.

[Source]

     # File vendor/rails/actionpack/lib/action_view/helpers/date_helper.rb, line 98
 98:       def select_datetime(datetime = Time.now, options = {})
 99:         select_year(datetime, options) + select_month(datetime, options) + select_day(datetime, options) +
100:         select_hour(datetime, options) + select_minute(datetime, options)
101:       end

Returns a select tag with options for each of the days 1 through 31 with the current day selected. The date can also be substituted for a hour number. Override the field name using the :field_name option, ‘day’ by default.

[Source]

     # File vendor/rails/actionpack/lib/action_view/helpers/date_helper.rb, line 160
160:       def select_day(date, options = {})
161:         day_options = []
162: 
163:         1.upto(31) do |day|
164:           day_options << ((date && (date.kind_of?(Fixnum) ? date : date.day) == day) ?
165:             %(<option value="#{day}" selected="selected">#{day}</option>\n) :
166:             %(<option value="#{day}">#{day}</option>\n)
167:           )
168:         end
169: 
170:         select_html(options[:field_name] || 'day', day_options, options[:prefix], options[:include_blank], options[:discard_type])
171:       end

Returns a select tag with options for each of the hours 0 through 23 with the current hour selected. The hour can also be substituted for a hour number. Override the field name using the :field_name option, ‘hour’ by default.

[Source]

     # File vendor/rails/actionpack/lib/action_view/helpers/date_helper.rb, line 144
144:       def select_hour(datetime, options = {})
145:         hour_options = []
146: 
147:         0.upto(23) do |hour|
148:           hour_options << ((datetime && (datetime.kind_of?(Fixnum) ? datetime : datetime.hour) == hour) ?
149:             %(<option value="#{leading_zero_on_single_digits(hour)}" selected="selected">#{leading_zero_on_single_digits(hour)}</option>\n) :
150:             %(<option value="#{leading_zero_on_single_digits(hour)}">#{leading_zero_on_single_digits(hour)}</option>\n)
151:           )
152:         end
153: 
154:         select_html(options[:field_name] || 'hour', hour_options, options[:prefix], options[:include_blank], options[:discard_type])
155:       end

Returns a select tag with options for each of the minutes 0 through 59 with the current minute selected. Also can return a select tag with options by minute_step from 0 through 59 with the 00 minute selected The minute can also be substituted for a minute number. Override the field name using the :field_name option, ‘minute’ by default.

[Source]

     # File vendor/rails/actionpack/lib/action_view/helpers/date_helper.rb, line 128
128:       def select_minute(datetime, options = {})
129:         minute_options = []
130: 
131:         0.step(59, options[:minute_step] || 1) do |minute|
132:           minute_options << ((datetime && (datetime.kind_of?(Fixnum) ? datetime : datetime.min) == minute) ?
133:             %(<option value="#{leading_zero_on_single_digits(minute)}" selected="selected">#{leading_zero_on_single_digits(minute)}</option>\n) :
134:             %(<option value="#{leading_zero_on_single_digits(minute)}">#{leading_zero_on_single_digits(minute)}</option>\n)
135:           )
136:         end
137: 
138:         select_html(options[:field_name] || 'minute', minute_options, options[:prefix], options[:include_blank], options[:discard_type])
139:       end

Returns a select tag with options for each of the months January through December with the current month selected. The month names are presented as keys (what’s shown to the user) and the month numbers (1-12) are used as values (what’s submitted to the server). It’s also possible to use month numbers for the presentation instead of names — set the :use_month_numbers key in options to true for this to happen. If you want both numbers and names, set the :add_month_numbers key in options to true. Examples:

  select_month(Date.today)                             # Will use keys like "January", "March"
  select_month(Date.today, :use_month_numbers => true) # Will use keys like "1", "3"
  select_month(Date.today, :add_month_numbers => true) # Will use keys like "1 - January", "3 - March"

Override the field name using the :field_name option, ‘month’ by default.

[Source]

     # File vendor/rails/actionpack/lib/action_view/helpers/date_helper.rb, line 184
184:       def select_month(date, options = {})
185:         month_options = []
186: 
187:         1.upto(12) do |month_number|
188:           month_name = if options[:use_month_numbers]
189:             month_number
190:           elsif options[:add_month_numbers]
191:             month_number.to_s + ' - ' + Date::MONTHNAMES[month_number]
192:           else
193:             Date::MONTHNAMES[month_number]
194:           end
195: 
196:           month_options << ((date && (date.kind_of?(Fixnum) ? date : date.month) == month_number) ?
197:             %(<option value="#{month_number}" selected="selected">#{month_name}</option>\n) :
198:             %(<option value="#{month_number}">#{month_name}</option>\n)
199:           )
200:         end
201: 
202:         select_html(options[:field_name] || 'month', month_options, options[:prefix], options[:include_blank], options[:discard_type])
203:       end

Returns a select tag with options for each of the seconds 0 through 59 with the current second selected. The second can also be substituted for a second number. Override the field name using the :field_name option, ‘second’ by default.

[Source]

     # File vendor/rails/actionpack/lib/action_view/helpers/date_helper.rb, line 111
111:       def select_second(datetime, options = {})
112:         second_options = []
113: 
114:         0.upto(59) do |second|
115:           second_options << ((datetime && (datetime.kind_of?(Fixnum) ? datetime : datetime.sec) == second) ?
116:             %(<option value="#{leading_zero_on_single_digits(second)}" selected="selected">#{leading_zero_on_single_digits(second)}</option>\n) :
117:             %(<option value="#{leading_zero_on_single_digits(second)}">#{leading_zero_on_single_digits(second)}</option>\n)
118:           )
119:         end
120: 
121:         select_html(options[:field_name] || 'second', second_options, options[:prefix], options[:include_blank], options[:discard_type])
122:       end

Returns a set of html select-tags (one for hour and minute)

[Source]

     # File vendor/rails/actionpack/lib/action_view/helpers/date_helper.rb, line 104
104:       def select_time(datetime = Time.now, options = {})
105:         h = select_hour(datetime, options) + select_minute(datetime, options) + (options[:include_seconds] ? select_second(datetime, options) : '')
106:       end

Returns a select tag with options for each of the five years on each side of the current, which is selected. The five year radius can be changed using the :start_year and :end_year keys in the options. Both ascending and descending year lists are supported by making :start_year less than or greater than :end_year. The date can also be substituted for a year given as a number. Example:

  select_year(Date.today, :start_year => 1992, :end_year => 2007)  # ascending year values
  select_year(Date.today, :start_year => 2005, :end_year => 1900)  # descending year values

Override the field name using the :field_name option, ‘year’ by default.

[Source]

     # File vendor/rails/actionpack/lib/action_view/helpers/date_helper.rb, line 214
214:       def select_year(date, options = {})
215:         year_options = []
216:         y = date ? (date.kind_of?(Fixnum) ? (y = (date == 0) ? Date.today.year : date) : date.year) : Date.today.year
217: 
218:         start_year, end_year = (options[:start_year] || y-5), (options[:end_year] || y+5)
219:         step_val = start_year < end_year ? 1 : -1
220: 
221:         start_year.step(end_year, step_val) do |year|
222:           year_options << ((date && (date.kind_of?(Fixnum) ? date : date.year) == year) ?
223:             %(<option value="#{year}" selected="selected">#{year}</option>\n) :
224:             %(<option value="#{year}">#{year}</option>\n)
225:           )
226:         end
227: 
228:         select_html(options[:field_name] || 'year', year_options, options[:prefix], options[:include_blank], options[:discard_type])
229:       end

Like distance_of_time_in_words, but where to_time is fixed to Time.now.

[Source]

    # File vendor/rails/actionpack/lib/action_view/helpers/date_helper.rb, line 51
51:       def time_ago_in_words(from_time, include_seconds = false)
52:         distance_of_time_in_words(from_time, Time.now, include_seconds)
53:       end

[Validate]