Package org.apache.velocity.tools.generic

Class ComparisonDateTool

  • public class ComparisonDateTool
extends DateTool
    Tool for comparing Date and Calendar values in Velocity templates. This is a subclass of DateTool and thus provides all the functionality of that tool and augments it with the ability to find the relationship between any date and the current date, or between any two dates. This comparison can result in either a textual representation of the relationship (e.g. "3 weeks, 2 days ago", "tomorrow", or "3 hrs away") or the value of a specific time unit may be requested. When using the textual representations, you can configure the tool to use alternate resource bundles and to skip over units you do not want to be included. 

     Example of formatting the "current" date:
  $date.whenIs('2005-07-04')                -> 1 year ago
  $date.whenIs('2007-02-15').full           -> 1 year 32 weeks 2 days 17 hours 38 minutes 44 seconds 178 milliseconds ago
  $date.whenIs('2007-02-15').days           -> -730
  $date.whenIs($date.calendar)              -> now
  $date.whenIs('2005-07-04', '2005-07-04')  -> same time
  $date.difference('2005-07-04','2005-07-04')      -> 0 milliseconds
  $date.difference('2005-07-04','2007-02-15').abbr -> 1 yr

 Example tools.xml config (if you want to use this with VelocityView):
 <tools>
   <toolbox scope="application">
     <tool class="org.apache.velocity.tools.generic.ComparisonDateTool"
              format="yyyy-MM-dd" depth="1" skip="month,week,millisecond"
              bundle="org.apache.velocity.tools.generic.times"/>
   </toolbox>
 </tools>

    Since:
    VelocityTools 1.4
    Version:
    $Revision$ $Date: 2006-04-04 12:35:17 -0700 (Tue, 04 Apr 2006) $
    Author:
    Nathan Bubna, Chris Townsen

    • Constructor Detail

      • ComparisonDateTool

        public ComparisonDateTool()

    • Method Detail

      • configure

        protected void configure​(ValueParser values)
        Calls the superclass implementation, then looks for a bundle name and any time units to be skipped.
        Overrides:
        configure in class DateTool

      • getText

        protected String getText​(String key,
                         Locale locale)
        Retrieves the specified text resource.

      • toYears

        public static long toYears​(long ms)
        Returns the number of whole Years in the specified number of milliseconds.

      • toMonths

        public static long toMonths​(long ms)
        Returns the number of whole Months in the specified number of milliseconds.

      • toWeeks

        public static long toWeeks​(long ms)
        Returns the number of whole Weeks in the specified number of milliseconds.

      • toDays

        public static long toDays​(long ms)
        Returns the number of whole Days in the specified number of milliseconds.

      • toHours

        public static long toHours​(long ms)
        Returns the number of whole Hours in the specified number of milliseconds.

      • toMinutes

        public static long toMinutes​(long ms)
        Returns the number of whole Minutes in the specified number of milliseconds.

      • toSeconds

        public static long toSeconds​(long ms)
        Returns the number of whole Seconds in the specified number of milliseconds.

      • whenIs

        public ComparisonDateTool.Comparison whenIs​(Object now,
                                            Object then)
        Returns a ComparisonDateTool.Comparison between the second specified date and the first specified date. The default rendering of that Comparison will be the largest unit difference between the dates followed by a description of their relative position.
        Parameters:
        now - The date to use as representative of "now"
        then - The date in question

      • difference

        public ComparisonDateTool.Comparison difference​(Object now,
                                                Object then)
        Returns a ComparisonDateTool.Comparison between the result of the second specified date and the first specified date. The default rendering of that Comparison will be the largest unit difference between the dates.
        Parameters:
        now - The date to use as representative of "now"
        then - The secondary date

      • toString

        protected String toString​(long ms,
                          int type,
                          int depth,
                          boolean abbr,
                          Locale loc)
        Parameters:
        ms - The time in milliseconds
        type - Whether the time should be represented as relative to "now", relative to some other time, or as a mere difference.
        depth - The maximum number of units deep to show
        abbr - Whether the units should be abbreviated or not
        loc - The locale to be used when looking up resources

      • toString

        protected String toString​(long diff,
                          int maxUnitDepth,
                          boolean abbreviate,
                          Locale locale)
        Converts the specified positive duration of milliseconds into larger units up to the specified number of positive units, beginning with the largest positive unit. e.g. toString(181453, 3, false, null) will return "3 minutes 1 second 453 milliseconds", toString(181453, 2, false, null) will return "3 minutes 1 second", and toString(180000, 2, true, null) will return "3 min".