FieldtypeDatetimeAdvanced - subfield selectors for date/time

[BitPoet]

Attention: please don't install this module at the time being!

It is not compatible with current PW versions, and it will be some time until I can work in all the changes.

Due to a discussion here in the forums, I was inspired to finally have a take on datetime fields and see if I couldn't get them to be searched a little more conveniently.

Here's a small module - still in alpha state, but I'd be happy to get some feedback - that allows searching for individual components of a date like year, month, day, hour or even day_of_week or day_of_year, and also returning them.

Github repo: DatetimeAdvanced

Current version: 0.0.5

Tested in: ProcessWire 2.8 + 3.0

Possible subfields:

• day
• month
• year
• hour
• minute
• second
• day_of_week
• day_of_year
• week_of_year

Examples:

// Database search:
$pagelist = $pages->find("mydatefield.year=2016");

// Filtering PageArray in memory:
$maypages = $pagelist->filter("mydatefield.month=5");

// Back to our starting point:
$start = date('z');
$end = $start + 7;
$sevendays = $pages->find("mydatefield.day_of_year>=$start, mydatefield.day_of_year<$end");

// Nice side effect: subfields are now directly accessible
$blogentry = $pages->get('blog-entry-1');
echo $blogentry->title . "(" . $blogentry->publishdate->year . ")";

// New in 0.0.4: shorthand methods
echo $blogentry->publishdate->strftime("%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S") . PHP_EOL;
echo $blogentry->publishdate->date("Y-m-d H:i:s") . PHP_EOL;

ToDos for the future:

• See if there's a possibility to specify ranges more conveniently
• Check if this can perhaps wiggle its way into the PW core

Changes: example for direct subfield access and shorthand methods to strftime() and date() added.

Edited February 20 by BitPoet
module compatibility issue

[BitPoet]

Just a short update: if MySQL (or the OS it's running on) and PHP are configured with different time zones, results will be wrong. You'll likely not notice anything off on local dev environments where everything is configured with the same time zone, but to prevent issues on deployment, MySQL needs to be made timezone-aware and PW's database connections need to tell MySQL which timezone to use for conversions, which should IMHO be done through a not-yet-existing $config property. That's why I've filed feature request #19.

I'm now holding my fingers crossed and waiting to hear if it gets considered. This will mean that, assuming it does, the module will require at least the PW version that gets the new $config property.

[Robin S]

@BitPoet, what do you think about changing from SQL timezone support being a strict requirement for installation to it being a strong suggestion?

My shared hosting server doesn't have timezone data but if I comment out the WireException in the install() method then things seem to work okay. The field values are saved with the correct date and time in the database and I can match pages as expected. Not sure if that means that the server's SQL and PHP are set to the same timezone (not sure how to test that).

The only issue I noticed is that with the "Default to today's date?" option selected in the field config the field shows an invalid date before a date has been entered:

Would that be due to the missing timezone support?

[BitPoet]

13 hours ago, Robin S said:

what do you think about changing from SQL timezone support being a strict requirement for installation to it being a strong suggestion?

I actually came to that conclusion too. The latest release outputs an error message but doesn't throw an exception anymore. There  are also instructions on the module config page how to set the correct offset through dbInitCommand in site/config.php so the global timezone in the MySQL server doesn't have to match that in PHP.

13 hours ago, Robin S said:

The only issue I noticed is that with the "Default to today's date?" option selected in the field config the field shows an invalid date before a date has been entered

I'm going to look into that one.

[BitPoet]

16 hours ago, Robin S said:

The only issue I noticed is that with the "Default to today's date?" option selected in the field config the field shows an invalid date before a date has been entered

I couldn't replicate the issue here. Can you give some specifics about your setup (date/time output format, PHP version, PW version)?

Normally, DatetimeAdvanced should behave just like a regular Datetime field in that regard since it too delegates the formatting stuff to the WireDateTime class, but I might of course have missed some special cases.

[Robin S]

On 10/27/2018 at 12:03 PM, Robin S said:

The only issue I noticed is that with the "Default to today's date?" option selected in the field config the field shows an invalid date before a date has been entered

I could reproduce this locally too with DatetimeAdvanced v1.0.0, PW 3.0.115, PHP 7.1.

It seems that when a new page is created (after the first step of Add Page) the field gets a value of 0000-00-00 00:00:00 in the database. This gets converted to timestamp -62170025400 which then does not pass the conditional that sets the inputfield value to the current date/time.

In contrast, the core Datetime field does not set a value in the database until one is saved.

DatetimeAdvanced:

Datetime:

[gRegor]

This looks awesome! I was considering a similar advanced DateTime module that would store the UTC offset in addition to the timestamp, so in the UI you could select the date, time, and timezone. I might try this out and see if I can extend it for that purpose.

[BitPoet]

On 11/9/2018 at 9:48 PM, gRegor said:

store the UTC offset in addition to the timestamp, so in the UI you could select the date, time, and timezone. I might try this out and see if I can extend it for that purpose.

I guess it should be doable by extending WireDT accordingly and implementing fitting getDatabaseSchema and savePageField/loadPageField methods as well as making sleepValue/wakeupValue with arrayish data instead of plain strings, a lot like the Events fieldtype but without the multiple value (EventsArray) stuff.

On 10/28/2018 at 4:05 AM, Robin S said:

I could reproduce this locally too with DatetimeAdvanced v1.0.0

Meanwhile reproduced and working on a solution. Should be ready in a few days at most.

Meanwhile, I haven't been completely lazy:

DatetimeAdvanced v1.0.3 supports custom subfields and works together with Lister's subfield selectors.

[BitPoet]

@Robin S: since all good things take a while, I have committed a tentative fix for the "default to today" issue into the dev branch. Perhaps you could give it a spin and let me know if this works for you.

[Robin S]

@BitPoet, thanks for the update, but sorry to report the issue with "default to today" remains for me with new pages. I tested with the dev branch of the module.

Edit: I've just noticed that it doesn't make a difference if "default to today" is selected for the field - the issue occurs regardless. Not sure if this was always the case and I just failed to check this when I originally reported it.

Database:

[Robin S]

@BitPoet, in case it helps, it seems that the relevant difference between a standard DateTime field and DateTimeAdvanced is that the standard field passes this test in Fieldtype.php for new pages...

// if the value is the same as the default, then remove the field from the database because it's redundant
if($value === $this->getBlankValue($page, $field)) return $this->deletePageField($page, $field); 

...but DateTimeAdvanced does not, resulting in an empty datetime value being stored in the DB.

 

[ceberlin]

Hi, I just stumbled upon your module. Great idea!

Your obligatory settings string

$config->dbInitCommand = "SET NAMES '{charset}', time_zone = '+02:00' ";

is not considering summer time changes? Maybe this can be calculated from $config->timezone = 'Europe/Berlin' (or whatever), a setting which is there already in config?

Uninstalling the Advanced Datetime field  leaves Advanced Datetime Inputfield and Datetime Extensions installed. Is this intended?

[BitPoet]

On 10/5/2019 at 11:13 AM, ceberlin said:

Maybe this can be calculated from $config->timezone = 'Europe/Berlin' (or whatever), a setting which is there already in config?

Good point. If PHP is configured correctly in that regard, you should be able to use date() to set it dynamically.

$config->dbInitCommand = "SET NAMES '{charset}', time_zone = '" . date('P') . "' ";

I think there was a reason why I didn't try to convert the configured timezone to an offset, but I need to check that.

On 10/5/2019 at 11:13 AM, ceberlin said:

Uninstalling the Advanced Datetime field  leaves Advanced Datetime Inputfield and Datetime Extensions installed. Is this intended?

Definitely not intended. That should be taken care of by the Modules class. Did you get any warning messages while uninstalling the module?

[ceberlin]

On 10/6/2019 at 2:58 PM, BitPoet said:

I think there was a reason why I didn't try to convert the configured timezone to an offset, but I need to check that.

Did you get any warning messages while uninstalling the module?

1. Your manual setting could serve well as a fallback in case there is a problem with the calculation?

2. No warning message, as far as I remember.

[d'Hinnisdaël]

Quick question: will this module work as intended if you turn off output formatting? I really like the sub-selector functionality like date.year=2019, but won't need the subfields like $page->date->year since I use Carbon for date fields in my frontend. Or are these two dependant on each other in any way?

[BitPoet]

2 hours ago, d'Hinnisdaël said:

Quick question: will this module work as intended if you turn off output formatting? I really like the sub-selector functionality like date.year=2019, but won't need the subfields like $page->date->year since I use Carbon for date fields in my frontend. Or are these two dependant on each other in any way?

I'm not familiar enough with Carbon to make a guess how well DateTimeAdvanced works with it. Generally, every operation/function call that expects a string should still work the same as with a regular Datetime field when output formatting is off, since my helper object has a ___toString() method that returns the unix timestamp.

If you just want to add database subfield selectors to your system and don't want to search arrays or plug in your own subfield patterns, you can use this stripped-down module:

<?php

/**
 * ## Enhanced Datetime Field
 *
 * Allows searching for individual components of datetime fields in
 * standard subfield syntax in the database.
 *
 * Note that this doesn't work for searching in PageArrays. For that,
 * use the DatetimeAdvanced Fieldtype instead.
 *
 * ## Possible subfields
 *
 * - day
 * - month
 * - year (4-digit)
 * - hour (0..23)
 * - minutes
 * - seconds
 * - day_of_week (0..6, 0 = Sunday)
 * - day_of_year (0..365)
 * - week_of_year (1..53)
 * - date (just the date part, yyyy-mm-dd)
 * - time (just the time part, hh:mm:ss)
 *
 * ## Example
 *
 * ```
 * $pagelist = $pages->find("mydatefield.year=2016");
 * ```
**/

class FieldtypeDatetimePlus extends FieldtypeDatetime implements Module, ConfigurableModule {
	public static function getModuleInfo() {
		return array(
			"title"			=>	"Datetime Plus",
			"summary"		=>	wire()->_("Datetime field with extended search syntax. Needs timezone support enabled in MySQL, see http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.7/en/time-zone-support.html for details."),
			"version"		=>	"0.0.1"
		);
	}

	protected static $_operators = array(
		"day"			=>	array("d", "d"),
		"month"			=>	array("c", "m"),
		"year"			=>	array("Y", "Y"),
		"hour"			=>	array("H", "H"),
		"minutes"		=>	array("i", "i"),
		"seconds"		=>	array("s", "s"),
		"day_of_week"	=>	array("w", "w"),
		"day_of_year"	=>	array("j", "z"),
		"week_of_year"	=>	array("v", "W"),
		"date"			=>	array("%Y-%m-%d", "Y-m-d"),
		"time"			=>	array("T", "H:i:s"),
	);

	/**
	 * Match a date/time value in the database, as used by PageFinder
	 *
	 */
	public function getMatchQuery($query, $table, $subfield, $operator, $value) {
		
		if($subfield != "data") {
			if(! $this->isAllowedSubfield($subfield)) {
				throw new WireException(sprintf($this->_("Unknown subfield name for datetime field: %s"), $subfield));
			}
			if($subfield == "date" || $subfield == "time") {
				$value = preg_replace('/[^0-9:-]/', '', $value);
			} else {
				$value = $this->sanitizer->int($value);
			}
			if($operator == "day_of_year") {
				$value += 1;
			}
			$database = $this->wire("database");
			if($database->isOperator($operator)) {
				$table = $database->escapeTable($table);
				$value = $database->escapeStr($value);
				$formatarg = self::$_operators[$subfield][0];
				$formatarg = preg_replace('/([a-zA-Z])/', '%$1', $formatarg);
				$query->where("DATE_FORMAT({$table}.data, '{$formatarg}'){$operator}'$value'");
			}
		} else {
			$value = (int) $this->_sanitizeValue($value); 
			if($value) $value = date('Y-m-d H:i:s', $value); 
				else $value = '';
			$database = $this->wire('database');
			if($database->isOperator($operator)) {
				$table = $database->escapeTable($table);
				$subfield = $database->escapeCol($subfield);
				$value = $database->escapeStr($value);
				$query->where("$table.{$subfield}{$operator}'$value'");
			}
		}
		return $query; 
	}

	
	public function isAllowedSubfield($subfield) {
		return array_key_exists($subfield, self::$_operators);
	}

	public function getInputfield(Page $page, Field $field) {
		$inputfield = $this->modules->get('InputfieldDatetime'); 
		$inputfield->class = $this->className();
		return $inputfield; 
	}

	/**
	 * Return array with information about what properties and operators can be used with this field.
	 * 
	 * #pw-group-finding
	 * 
	 * @param Field $field
	 * @param array $data Array of extra data, when/if needed
	 * @return array See `FieldSelectorInfo` class for details.
	 *
	 */
	public function ___getSelectorInfo(Field $field, array $data = array()) {
		if($data) {}
		$selectorInfo = $this->wire(new FieldSelectorInfo());
		$info = $selectorInfo->getSelectorInfo($field);
		
		foreach(array_keys(self::$_operators) as $op) {
			$info["subfields"][$op] = array(
				"name"	=> $op,
				"label" => $op,
				"operators" => $info["operators"],
				"input" => "text",
				"hint" => "",
				"options" => array()
			);
		}
		
		return $info;
	}

	public function ___getModuleConfigInputfields() {
		
		$ifs = new InputfieldWrapper();
		
		$cmd = $this->config->dbInitCommand;
		$off = date('O');
		$needUpdate = false;
		if(strlen($off) > 0) {
			if(preg_match('/time_zone/i', $cmd)) {
				$needUpdate = false;
				return $ifs;
			}
			// PHP returns +0200, MySQL wants +02:00
			$off = preg_replace('/(\d\d)$/', ':$1', $off);
			// Append timezone set statement
			$cmd .= sprintf(", time_zone = '%s' ", $off);
		}
		
		$f = $this->modules->get("InputfieldMarkup");
		$f->label = $this->_("Enable timezone support in MySQL");
		$f->description = $this->_("For datetime plus database selectors to be reliable, PHP and MySQL need to add/subtract the same offsets for datetime and timestamp values.") .
			" " .
			$this->_("To accomplish that, the timezone setting in MySQL needs to be set to the same value as in PHP.") .
			" " .
			$this->_("Copy the following line to site/config.php:")
		;

		$f->attr(
			'value',
			"<code>" .
			"\$config->dbInitCommand = \"$cmd\";" .
			"</code>"
		);
		$f->notes = $this->_("Important: timezone data must be loaded in MySQL! See [this link](http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.7/en/time-zone-support.html) for details.");
		
		$ifs->append($f);
		
		return $ifs;
		
	}
	
}

 

[d'Hinnisdaël]

Thanks for taking the time and splitting this up ☃️ Much appreciated. I'll try this out with my next project where it'll come in really handy.

[olafgleba]

First, thanks for your effort making this extension!

Environment: DatetimeAdvanced v1.0.4, PW 3.0.148, PHP 7.4.6, mysql 5.7., Timezone ist set.

While accessing subfields as selectors within a $pages-find() works fine, i am having trouble using subfields within PageArray results. Definitely i miss something here. Maybe i should stop working for today, but meanwhile someone maybe have a hint what i am doing wrong...

Thx, Olaf

<?php 

foreach($results as $result) {

	// Directly access gives me "Notice: Trying to get property 'year' of non-object"
	echo $result->programm_date_advanced->year;
	
	// strftime shorthand gives me "Fatal error: Uncaught Error: Call to a member function strftime() on string"
	echo $result->programm_date_advanced->strftime('%Y');

	// Using strftime plain gives me "Notice: A non well formed numeric value encountered"
	echo strftime('%Y', $result->programm_date_advanced);

	// Using strftime unformatted gives me "Warning: strftime() expects parameter 2 to be int, object given"
	echo strftime('%Y', $result->getUnformatted('programm_date_advanced'));

	// Plain output is o.k.
	echo $result->programm_date_advanced; // e.g. 10.07.2020

}
?>

 

[teppo]

17 hours ago, olafgleba said:

While accessing subfields as selectors within a $pages-find() works fine, i am having trouble using subfields within PageArray results. Definitely i miss something here. Maybe i should stop working for today, but meanwhile someone maybe have a hint what i am doing wrong...

I'm not really familiar with this module, but it looks like the formatted output will indeed be a single date. Have you tried $result->getUnformatted('programm_date_advanced') to get the unformatted version?

[olafgleba]

1 hour ago, teppo said:

Have you tried $result->getUnformatted('programm_date_advanced') to get the unformatted version?

That gives me the expected result (just like the output of a field with the default `datetime` Fieldtype).

echo $return->getUnformatted('programm_date_advanced') // e.g. `1562233140`

 

[nbcommunication]

Hi,

This module does not appear to be compatible with the latest master. Seems the refactoring of InputfieldDatetime since 3.0.148 is the culprit.

Failed to construct module: \InputfieldDatetimeAdvanced - Method InputfieldDatetimeAdvanced::getInputFormats does not exist or is not callable in this context

I added getInputFormats() from a previous version of InputfieldDatetime and that appears to have fixed it:

<?php

	/**
	 * Get the input format string for the user's language
	 *
	 * thanks to @oliverwehn (#1463)
	 *
	 * @param bool $getString Specify true to get a format string rather than an array
	 * @return array|string of dateInputFormat timeInputFormat
	 *
	 */
	protected function getInputFormats($getString = false) {

		$inputFormats = array();
		$language = $this->wire('user')->language;
		$useLanguages = $this->wire('languages') && $language && !$language->isDefault();

		foreach(array('date', 'time') as $type) {

			$inputFormat = '';

			if($useLanguages) {
				$inputFormat = trim($this->getSetting("{$type}InputFormat{$language->id}"));
			}

			if(!strlen($inputFormat)) {
				// fallback to default language
				$inputFormat = $this->get("{$type}InputFormat");
			}

			$inputFormats[] = $inputFormat;
		}

		if($getString) return trim(implode(' ', $inputFormats));

		return $inputFormats;
	}

Cheers,

Chris

[FlorianA]

Am I right to say that your example

$start = date('z');
$end = $start + 7;
$sevendays = $pages->find("mydatefield.day_of_year>=$start, mydatefield.day_of_year<$end");

doesn't work, if $start is within the last week of December? It won't find pages for January, since day_of_year starts with 1 again.

My SQL solution for this would be something like

select * from my_table where (DAYOFYEAR(my_date)+366 - DAYOFYEAR(CURDATE())) % 366 < 7

Is there an equivalent PW query solution for this?

Thanks, Florian

[cpx3]

@BitPoetFirst thanks for your work and for the module I really would love to use at it is exactly what I am looking for! The only problem is that after installing and trying to use it, I get the error message: "Call to undefined method stdClass::attr()" when using it as a field type for a field. Whatever I try is useless as I can't even uninstall the module because it says it is blocked by a field. Same is true for the Advanced Datetime Inputfield, which I cannot install because every attempt to do so immediately creates an error message. Any idea what I am doing wrong?

[BitPoet]

2 hours ago, cpx3 said:

Any idea what I am doing wrong?

The wrong is on the side of the module. Too much has changed in the standard datetime field, and I didn't have the time to catch up with these changes. You'll probably have to remove the field and module by hand on the database level (there could be easier ways, but the exact approach probably depends on the exact PHP and PW versions).

• drop the table field_[yourfieldname]
• execute the query "DELETE FROM fields WHERE type = 'FieldtypeDatetimeAdvanced';"
• execute the query "DELETE FROM modules WHERE type = 'FieldtypeDatetimeAdvanced';"
• delete the module directory

Sorry for the hassle. I have added a notice to the module's readme. Unfortunately, I won't find the time to adapt the module before the end of the year.

[cpx3]

Thanks for the quick answer, even if I would really have liked the idea of your module...