NAME

Rose::Object::MakeMethods::DateTime - Create methods that store DateTime objects.

SYNOPSIS

  package MyObject;

  use Rose::Object::MakeMethods::DateTime
  (
    datetime => 
    [
      'birthday',
      'arrival' => { tz => 'UTC' }
    ],
  );

  ...

  $obj = MyObject->new(birthday => '1/24/1984 1am');

  $dt = $obj->birthday; # DateTime object

  $bday = $obj->birthday(format => '%B %E'); # 'January 24th'

  # Shortcut for $obj->birthday->clone->truncate(to => 'month');
  $month = $obj->birthday(truncate => 'month');

  $obj->birthday('blah');       # croaks - invalid date!
  $obj->birthday('1999-04-31'); # croaks - invalid date!

DESCRIPTION

Rose::Object::MakeMethods::DateTime is a method maker that inherits from Rose::Object::MakeMethods. See the Rose::Object::MakeMethods documentation to learn about the interface. The method types provided by this module are described below. All methods work only with hash-based objects.

METHODS TYPES

datetime

Create get/set methods for scalar attributes that store DateTime objects.

Options

hash_key

The key inside the hash-based object to use for the storage of this attribute. Defaults to the name of the method.

init_method

The name of the method to call when initializing the value of an undefined attribute. This option is only applicable when using the get_set_init interface. Defaults to the method name with the prefix init_ added.

This method should return a value that can be parsed by Rose::DateTime::Util's the parse_date() function. If the return value is a DateTime object, it will have its time zone set (see the tz option below) using DateTime's set_time_zone() method.

interface

Chooses one of the two possible interfaces. Defaults to get_set.

tz

The time zone of the DateTime object to be stored. If present, this value will be passed as the second argument to Rose::DateTime::Util's the parse_date() function when creating DateTime objects for storage. If absent, DateTime objects will use the default time zone of the Rose::DateTime::Util class, which is set by Rose::DateTime::Util's time_zone() class method. See the Rose::DateTime::Util documentation for more information.

Interfaces

get_set

Creates a get/set accessor method for an object attribute that stores a DateTime object.

When called with a single argument, the argument is passed through Rose::DateTime::Util's parse_date() function in order to create the DateTime object that is stored. The current value of the attribute is returned. Passing a value that is not understood by Rose::DateTime::Util's parse_date() function causes a fatal error.

When called with two arguments and the first argument is the string 'format', then the second argument is taken as a format specifier which is passed to Rose::DateTime::Util's format_date() function. The formatted string is returned. In other words, this:

    $obj->birthday(format => '%m/%d/%Y');

Is just a shortcut for this:

    Rose::DateTime::Util::format_date($obj->birthday, 
                                      '%m/%d/%Y');

When called with two arguments and the first argument is the string 'truncate', then the second argument is taken as a truncation specifier which is passed to DateTime's truncate() method called on a clone of the existing DateTime object. The cloned, truncated DateTime object is returned. In other words, this:

    $obj->birthday(truncate => 'month');

Is just a shortcut for this:

    $obj->birthday->clone->truncate(to => 'month');

Passing more than two arguments or passing two arguments where the first argument is not 'format' or 'truncate' will cause a fatal error.

get_set_init

Behaves like the get_set interface unless the value of the attribute is undefined. In that case, the method specified by the init_method option is called, the return value is passed through Rose::DateTime::Util's parse_date() function, and the attribute is set to the return value. An init method that returns a value that is not understood by Rose::DateTime::Util's parse_date() function will cause a fatal error.

Example:

    package MyObject;

    use Rose::Object::MakeMethods::DateTime
    (
      datetime => 
      [
        'birthday',
        'arrival' => { tz => 'UTC' }
      ],

      'datetime --get_set_init' =>
      [
        'departure' => { tz => 'UTC' }
      ],
    );

    sub init_departure 
    {
      DateTime->new(month => 1, 
                    day   => 10,
                    year  => 2000,
                    time_zone => 'America/Chicago');
    }

    ...

    $obj = MyObject->new(birthday => '1/24/1984 1am');

    $dt = $obj->birthday; # DateTime object

    $bday = $obj->birthday(format => '%B %E'); # 'January 24th'

    # Shortcut for $obj->birthday->clone->truncate(to => 'month');
    $month = $obj->birthday(truncate => 'month');

    $obj->birthday('blah');       # croaks - invalid date!
    $obj->birthday('1999-04-31'); # croaks - invalid date!

    # DateTime object with time zone set to UTC
    $dt = $obj->arrival('2005-21-01 4pm');

    # DateTime object with time zone set to UTC, not America/Chicago!
    #   Start with 2000-01-10T00:00:00 America/Chicago,
    #   then set_time_zone('UTC'), 
    #   which results in: 2000-01-10T06:00:00 UTC
    $dt = $obj->departure;

    print $dt; # "2000-01-10T06:00:00"

AUTHOR

John C. Siracusa (siracusa@mindspring.com)

COPYRIGHT

Copyright (c) 2006 by John C. Siracusa. All rights reserved. This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.