[Zope] - Convert database date to Zope date

[Jim Fulton]

skip@calendar.com wrote:
> 
>     Michael> How does one convert a database date value to a Zope date
>     Michael> value. I'm trying to use a date value retrieved from a query of
>     Michael> a MySQL database in the var command with the date formatting
>     Michael> options. If I just use the raw value from the query, I get an
>     Michael> error. Is there a way to convert this to a Zope date data type?
> 
> I don't know sure what sort of value MySQL returns,

I was wondering that myself. Does MySQL have any sort of Date type?

> but in my application I
> store timestamps as floating point values (such as returned by
> time.time()).  I was able to access them from DTML by converting them to
> DateTime objects, e.g.:
> 
>     e.start = DateTime.DateTime(e.start)

There really should be access to the DateTime constructor
from DTML.  I'll add it to '_', so in the next release
you'll be able to:

  <!--#var "_.DateTime(v)"-->

Note that the DateTime class is documented in 
appendix A of the DTML manual.
 
> then access it as appropriate from DTML:
> 
>     <!--#var start fmt=aDay--> ...
> 
> I was a bit disappointed to discover there is no exposure of strftime
> functionality through DateTime objects.  The static date formats provided
> don't meet my needs.  To generate a date in the format I want I wind up
> making at least four #var references per date.  If there's no strong
> objection, I will add an ftime (or strftime) method to DateTime objects that
> can at least be called through a var tag with an expr attribute.

This is a good idea.  I was thinking about this a long time ago
and thought I'd try to wire something like this into getattr so that
it would work with the fmt machinery.  Something like:


  class DateTime:

     ...

     def strftime(self, format): ...

     def __getattr__(self, name):
        if '%' in name: return strftimeFormatter(self, name)
        raise AttributeError, name


  class strftimeFormatter:

     def __init__(self, dt, format):
        self._dt=dt
        self._f=format

     def __call__(self): return self._dt.strftime(self._f)

This should let you:

  <!--#var someDateTime fmt="%Y/%m/%d"-->

I'd be happy to get a patch along these lines. :)

Jim

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