How to change the date format from the default type in Rails 2.0.2 using MySQL 5.1

I am looking for a way through which I could convert my default date format to a specific user 开发者_如何学JAVAformat.

I am working on Rails 2.0.2. As we know on making use of the Scaffold command we automatically get the attributes of "id", "created_at" & "updated_at" as part of your table.

My scaffold command looks like this:-

script/server scaffold posts name:string title:string content:text

I am basically trying to implement a blog application. Now when I try to check the date when a particular blog is posted, I make use of the helper tags and through <%=h post.created_at %>in my index.html.erb file..

I am able to display the date a blog was originally created in default format which is currently like: Tue Jan 18 13:00:05 +0530 2011 via MySql 5.1 DB . I want to change this format to Month date Year.. like in the above case it would be January 18 2011.

In this regard could you please tell me how do I go about it. I am unsure of where do I need to make what changes.

Is there a way through which I can store the data in the index.html.erb and convert it then and there to the user defined format? I am not too sure of how to go about it directly from the view..

Also, I guess this, if hard coded would be a DRY(Don't Repeat Yourself) violation going against Rails principles. Could you suggest an appropriate way. Something that I can change as per a end user requirement.

Thank you..

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You could use date_select_tag in the view and pass it in the time object and it would do the magic for you. Lets say for example, your time object is created at then,

<%= date_select_tag, :created_at, @user.created_at %>

Rails would take care of converting it back and forth..

Edit: Also, you can convert it into date for views using @user.created_at.to_date.strftime() as documented here - http://www.ruby-doc.org/core/classes/Time.html#M000392

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The way Rails handles date and time conversion formats is independent of which database you are using. To override the default format, you should add an initializer to your application. I have mine at config/initializers/time_formats.rb. Then in that file you would define the formats you want to use throughout the app:

Time::DATE_FORMATS[:just_date] = "%b %d, %Y"
Time::DATE_FORMATS[:just_time] = "%I:%M%p"

In order to use the new formats, you will pass the symbol to a string conversion like so:

<%= @post.created_at.to_s(:just_date) %>

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You can use for example ActiveSupport::CoreExtensions::Time::Conversions::DATE_FORMATS

You can merge in your own (in environment.rb) for example ActiveSupport::CoreExtensions::Time::Conversions::DATE_FORMATS.merge!( :default => '%m/%d/%Y', :date_time12 => "%m/%d/%Y %I:%M%p", :date_time24 => "%m/%d/%Y %H:%M" )