PHP strftime and Javascript DateFormat class

For PHP developer, it’s will be nice if we can use same date format parameter both in PHP and Javascript. This DateFormat class created for that purpose, since took strftime like parameter to format the output string. For example passing parameter “%d-%m-%Y” will output “dd-mm-yyyy” date string. See also: PHP strftime manual.

DateFormat has standard version and prototype version. The standard version does not required any other library, because it’s developeded under standard Javascript. The prototype version required Prototype library (a least version 1.6).

The diference between these two are when dealing with the hash object. Prototype provide $H method, and also hash#get and hash#set function. So you can pass any hash parameter as object, hash or array; and the $H method will taken care the rest of the process. Otherwise, the standard version only support hash for any hash parameter.

Demo

You can find the demo at http://code.lokamaya.net/dateformat/ .

Download

You can find both standard and prototype version in the download file. The prototype version is jut for fun, but you also can use it if you use Prototype library in your application.

Example of Use

//create instance object and pass parameter {lang:"en"}
var oDate = new DateFormat({lang:"en"});
//return current date in default format
//see: DateFormatLang.Populate)
oDate.getDate();
//return current date in "%B, %Y" format
oDate.toFormat("%B, %Y");
//set or change the date
oDate.setDate({year:1980, month:09, date:15});
oDate.toFormat("%B, %Y"); //return September, 1980
oDate.toFormat("%m-%d-%Y"); //return 09-15-1980
oDate.toFormat("%Y-%m-%d"); //return 1980-09-15
//set the date and get the output
//by passing new format: "%d-%m-%Y"
oDate.getDate({year:2003, month:02, date:15}, "%d-%m-%Y");
//return 15-02-2003

Main Methods

Helper: Populate Language

Example

Populate Indonesia language (“id”)

DateFormatLang.Populate(
'id',
'%d/%m/%Y',
['Januari','Februari','Maret','April','Mei','Juni', 'Juli','Agustus','September','Oktober','Nopember','Desember'],
['Jan','Feb','Mar','Apr','Mei','Jun', 'Jul','Agu','Sep','Okt','Nov','Des'],
['Minggu','Senin','Selasa','Rabu','Kamis','Jumat','Sabtu'],
['Ming','Sen','Sel','Rab','Kam','Jum','Sab']
);

UTC and Browser/Client Time

//Change the output date to UTC using DateFormat Class
var oDate = new DateFormat({lang:"en", utc=true});
var output = oDate.toFormat("%A, %B");
//Toggle UTC, to local time
oDate.setUTC(false);
var output = oDate.toFormat("%A, %B");
//Switch back to UTC time
oDate.setUTC(true);
var output = oDate.toFormat("%A, %B");

“Day/Week of Year” and “Week of Month”

I add 3 new methods to default javascript object Date–beside #toJSON taken from prototype.js. The new methods are “#getDayOfYear“, “#getWeekOfYear” and “#getWeekOfMonth“.
//Using DateFormat Class
var oDate = new DateFormat({lang:'en'});
var countDayOfYear = oDate.toFormat("%j");
var countWeekOfYear = oDate.toFormat("%W");
//%F format not found in PHP. I add a new one...
var countWeekOfMonth = oDate.toFormat("%F");
var JSONFormat = oDate.toJSON();
Since the methods has been added as Date prototype function, we also can use it directly using default Date Object.

March 06, 2010:

Updated the bug as mentioned by John Harding (see the comment).