A customer buys a product today.
We need the dates for the four following saturdays.

Example:
Today is 2004-04-01.
Then the output should be
2004-04-03
2004-04-10
2004-04-17
2004-04-24
Exception: If you buy the product at saturday, this saturday shouldnt be included!
The next saturday is the first date!

I need the output in hiddenfields!
e.g.
<input type="hidden" name=date1 value="2004-04-03">
<input type="hidden" name=date2 value="2004-04-10">
<input type="hidden" name=date3 value="2004-04-17">
<input type="hidden" name=date4 value="2004-04-24">

Thanks in advance,

Coyu

See if Date::Calc is installed on your server.

If not, you can put pCalc ( a pure perl replacement) in your Plugins::Date directory.

Read the documentation, and it will do just what you want.

Call it from a global with use Plugins::Date::Pcalc

Or, you could call it directly, for some functions, in the template <%Plugins::Date::Pcalc::function()%>

I used this on a few things to provide the date of recurring meetings (3rd tuesday of the month) and such for different groups in Gforum and Links.


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What about this (these functions are from memory so they may need looking up):

<%set today=GT::Date::date_transform($date,'%yyyy%-%mm%-%dd%','%dddd%')%>
<%if today eq "Saturday"%><%set date1 = GT::Date::date_add($date,7)%>
<%elsif today eq "Friday"%><%set date1 = GT::Date::date_add($date,1)%>
...
<%endif%>
<%set date2=GT::Date::date_add($date1,7)%>
<%set date3=GT::Date::date_add($date1,14)%>
<%set date4=GT::Date::date_add($date1,21)%>

I've had some problems with the date function, which is why I've used pcalc in some cases over the GT::Date routines for calendar math.

If you were going to do it using GT::Date, you'd probably be better off doing it in a global, and avoiding issues with the parser. Since you are happy with the Links default date format:



call this as <%get_dates%> or something like that.

Untested, but should work.

The problems I've hit have come with date formatting, and -- in your examples -- assigning functions in the templates. This is a simpler case than I initially took it for, so it's possible to do it as above, without much potential for problems.

Rather than simply adding 7 to today, I was looking at it as actually picking out the next 4 DDD-days of the week.


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Actually, looking at the problem again, it would be better to use the date module. He wants to find the next 4 saturdays. While you can use other routines, and work it all out, it's clearer and more maintainable to use standard modules.

This specific need does not require a passed in date, because it's referenced from today. If you did want to use a passed in date, you would need to do some additional checking (ie: is the date greater than 4 weeks old?)

using pcalc: (indexes start at 1, not 0)

Assign $first_date to the "my $today" variable in the previous code, rather than GT::Date::date_get(); and you can use Link's internal processes to get the next 4 dates.

To screen out if today is a saturday

($first_date == GT::Date::date_get() ) && ( $first_date = GT::Date::date_add($first_date, 7) );


PS: just because something *can* be done in 1 or 2 lines, doesn't mean it should be done in 1 or 2 lines. Shorter isn't always better, and maintainability/readability especially in infrequently used or called routines is more important (usually) than terseness. The check for "today" could have been done before the add_delta_days, but logically, it fits better in the lower block of code.


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btw... the next version of links will contain a payment module, and maybe the date routines will be enhanced to work along with it.

While there are certainly advantages at times for using the built-in Links date routines (especially for standard program calls), Date::Calc / Date:Pcalc are the best [and most standard] modules out there for most date calculations in plugins and globals. Don't be afraid to use them ;)

If you can compile Date::Calc into your perl, it will become one of your favorite modules :) It's required for most calendar programs and such.

Pcalc can be put into your Plugins directory, in the Date subdirectory, and requires no compillation.


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