by_* (byStar) is a plugin that allows you to find ActiveRecord objects given certain date objects. This was originally crafted for only finding objects within a given month, but now has extended out to much more. It now supports finding objects for:
- A given year
- A given month
- A given fortnight
- A given week
- A given weekend
- A given day
- The current weekend
- The current work week
- Between certain times
- As of a certain time
- Up to a certain time
It also allows you to do nested finds on the records returned which I personally think is the coolest feature of the whole plugin:
Post.by_month(1) do
{ :include => "tags", :conditions => ["tags.name = ?", 'ruby'] }
end
If you're not using the standard created_at field: don't worry! I've covered that scenario too.
To find records based on a year you can pass it a two or four digit number:
Post.by_year(09)
This will return all posts in 2009, whereas:
Post.by_year(99)
will return all the posts in the year 1999.
If you know the number of the month you want:
Post.by_month(1)
This will return all posts in the first month (January) of the current year.
If you like being verbose:
Post.by_month("January")
This will return all posts created in January of the current year.
If you want to find all posts in January of last year just do
Post.by_month(1, :year => 2007)
or
Post.by_month("January", :year => 2007)
This will perform a find using the column you've specified.
If you have a Time object you can use it to find the posts:
Post.by_month(Time.local(2008, 11, 24))
This will find all the posts in November 2008.
Fortnight numbering starts at 0. The beginning of a fortnight is Monday, 12am.
To find records from the current fortnight:
Post.by_fortnight
To find records based on a fortnight, you can pass in a number (representing the fortnight number) or a time object:
Post.by_fortnight(18)
This will return all posts in the 18th fortnight of the current year.
Post.by_fortnight(18, :year => 2008)
This will return all posts in the 18th fortnight week of 2008.
Post.by_fortnight(Time.local(2008,1,1))
This will return all posts from the first fortnight of 2008.
Week numbering starts at 0. The beginning of a week is Monday, 12am.
To find records from the current week:
Post.by_week
To find records based on a week, you can pass in a number (representing the week number) or a time object:
Post.by_week(36)
This will return all posts in the 36th week of the current year.
Post.by_week(36, :year => 2008)
This will return all posts in the 36th week of 2008.
Post.by_week(Time.local(2008,1,1))
This will return all posts from the first week of 2008.
If the time passed in (or the time now is a weekend) it will return posts from 12am Saturday to 11:59:59PM Sunday. If the time is a week day, it will show all posts for the coming weekend.
Post.by_weekend(Time.now)
To find records for today:
Post.by_day
Post.today
To find records for a certain day:
Post.by_day(Time.local(2008, 1, 1))
You can also pass a string:
Post.by_day("next tuesday")
This will return all posts for the given day.
If you are currently in a weekend (between 3pm Friday and 3am Monday) this will find all records starting at 3pm the previous Friday up until 3am, Monday.
If you are not in a weekend (between 3am Monday and 3pm Friday) this will find all records from the next Friday 3pm to the following Monday 3am.
If you are currently in a work week (between 3am Monday and 3pm Friday) this will find all records in that range. If you are currently in a weekend (between 3pm Friday and 3am Monday) this will return all records in the upcoming work week.
This method has been shown to be shifty when passed a Date object, it is recommended that you pass it a Time object instead.
To find all posts from the day after the current date:
Post.tomorrow
To find all posts after a given Date or Time object:
Post.tomorrow(Date.today + 2)
Post.tomorrow(Time.now + 5.days)
You can also pass a string:
Post.tomorrow("next tuesday")
This method has been shown to be shifty when passed a Date object, it is recommended that you pass it a Time object instead.
To find all posts from the day before the current date:
Post.yesterday
To find all posts before a given Date or Time object:
Post.yesterday(Date.today + 2)
Post.yesterday(Time.now + 5.days)
You can also pass a string:
Post.yesterday("next tuesday")
To find all posts before the current time:
Post.past
To find all posts before certain time or date:
Post.past(Date.today + 2)
Post.past(Time.now + 5.days)
You can also pass a string:
Post.past("next tuesday")
To find all posts after the current time:
Post.future
To find all posts after certain time or date:
Post.future(Date.today + 2)
Post.future(Time.now + 5.days)
You can also pass a string:
Post.future("next tuesday")
To find records between two times:
Post.between(time1, time2)
Also works with dates:
Post.between(date1, date2)
And with strings:
Post.between("last tuesday", "next wednesday")
To find records as of a certain date up until the current time:
Post.as_of_2_weeks_ago
This uses the Chronic "human mind reading" (read: it's really good at determining what time you mean using written English) library to work it out.
To find records up to a certain time from the current time:
Post.up_to_6_weeks_from_now
If your database uses something other than created_at for storing a timestamp, you can specify the field option like this:
Post.by_month("January", :field => :something_else)
All methods support this extra option.
All the by_* methods takes a block which will then scope the find based on the options passed into it. The supported options are the same options that are supported by ActiveRecord::Base.find:
Post.by_month(1) do
{ :include => "tags", :conditions => ["tags.name = ?", 'ruby'] }
end
This means a string that can be parsed with the Chronic gem.
Unfortunately I forget who exactly prompted me to write the plugin, but I would like to thank #rubyonrails for their support and the following people:
- Mislav Marohnic
- August Lilleas (leethal)
- gte351s
- Thomase Sinclair (anathematic)
- The dude(s) & gal(s) who created Chronic
If you have suggestions, please contact me at [email protected]