| determining the difference between two dateTimes [message #174347] |
Mon, 06 June 2011 14:47  |
bill
Messages: 310
Registered: October 2010
Karma: 0
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Senior Member |
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In a scheduling program I need to check to see if there is a
conflict between an existing appointment and one that is to be
entered. I figured that I would use dateTime::diff
the existing appointment is returned as $row['apptTime'], the
appt being tested is $dateTM
$TAptEnd = $dateTM->add(new DateInterval('PT' . $duration .'M'));
$date = new DateTime($row['apptTime']); //dateTime object
of the beginning of the next appt
$diff = $date->diff($TAptEnd,true); //difference between
the beginning of an existing appt and the end of
the testing.
if ($diff->format('%i') <0 ) return 1;
I am running into several problems that suggest that this is not
the best way to go about this.
1: if the next appointment is the next day I am getting only the
time difference between the appointments, eg 10 min, not the
whole time. I would expect the difference to be 24 * 60 + 10,
not just the 10.
2: if I need to use the day + hours + minutes it gets really messy.
Suggestions please.
bill
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| Re: determining the difference between two dateTimes [message #174349 is a reply to message #174347] |
Mon, 06 June 2011 16:00  |
The Natural Philosoph
Messages: 993
Registered: September 2010
Karma: 0
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Senior Member |
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bill wrote:
> In a scheduling program I need to check to see if there is a conflict
> between an existing appointment and one that is to be entered. I
> figured that I would use dateTime::diff
>
> the existing appointment is returned as $row['apptTime'], the appt being
> tested is $dateTM
>
> $TAptEnd = $dateTM->add(new DateInterval('PT' . $duration .'M'));
>
> $date = new DateTime($row['apptTime']); //dateTime object
> of the beginning of the next appt
> $diff = $date->diff($TAptEnd,true); //difference between
> the beginning of an existing appt and the end of
> the testing.
>
> if ($diff->format('%i') <0 ) return 1;
>
> I am running into several problems that suggest that this is not the
> best way to go about this.
>
> 1: if the next appointment is the next day I am getting only the time
> difference between the appointments, eg 10 min, not the whole time. I
> would expect the difference to be 24 * 60 + 10, not just the 10.
>
> 2: if I need to use the day + hours + minutes it gets really messy.
>
> Suggestions please.
>
> bill
Convert the whole lot using appropriate calls to remove all daylight
savings time, into seconds since Jan 1 1970..i.e.. UNIXTIME.
That will give you absolute offset in seconds.
If you are pulling the date times out of MySQL, the call
"set time_zone= '+00:00'"
means that any dates returned for the rest of the session will be UTC.
The the mysql function unix_timestamp(timestamp) will return the number
of seconds since Jan 1 1970.
If OTOH you are using some other means than an SQL database to store
times, I suggest you scrap them and use that particular way of
expressing times and dates. Its very easy to convert from that to the
local date in any form you want, using a variety of available functions
in PHP and or C or Mysql.. and you have a simple way of calculating date
offsets by subtracting two times, and divinding them by 60 - integer or
floating point - to get the number of minutes apart.
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| Re: determining the difference between two dateTimes [message #174350 is a reply to message #174347] |
Mon, 06 June 2011 17:58 |
Jerry Stuckle
Messages: 2598
Registered: September 2010
Karma: 0
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Senior Member |
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On 6/6/2011 10:47 AM, bill wrote:
> In a scheduling program I need to check to see if there is a conflict
> between an existing appointment and one that is to be entered. I figured
> that I would use dateTime::diff
>
> the existing appointment is returned as $row['apptTime'], the appt being
> tested is $dateTM
>
> $TAptEnd = $dateTM->add(new DateInterval('PT' . $duration .'M'));
>
> $date = new DateTime($row['apptTime']); //dateTime object
> of the beginning of the next appt
> $diff = $date->diff($TAptEnd,true); //difference between
> the beginning of an existing appt and the end of
> the testing.
>
> if ($diff->format('%i') <0 ) return 1;
>
> I am running into several problems that suggest that this is not the
> best way to go about this.
>
> 1: if the next appointment is the next day I am getting only the time
> difference between the appointments, eg 10 min, not the whole time. I
> would expect the difference to be 24 * 60 + 10, not just the 10.
>
> 2: if I need to use the day + hours + minutes it gets really messy.
>
> Suggestions please.
>
> bill
Bill,
As you found out, '%i' just gives you the minutes portion of the DateTime.
What if you converted both DateTime objects to timestamps with
getTimestamp()? This will give you the Unix time (seconds since
1/1/1970) and you can subtract those to get the difference. Then a
simple comparison of the seconds will get you the answer you need.
--
==================
Remove the "x" from my email address
Jerry Stuckle
JDS Computer Training Corp.
jstucklex(at)attglobal(dot)net
==================
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| Re: determining the difference between two dateTimes [message #174351 is a reply to message #174350] |
Tue, 07 June 2011 10:45 |
bill
Messages: 310
Registered: October 2010
Karma: 0
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Senior Member |
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On 6/6/2011 1:58 PM, Jerry Stuckle wrote:
> On 6/6/2011 10:47 AM, bill wrote:
>> In a scheduling program I need to check to see if there is a
>> conflict
>> between an existing appointment and one that is to be entered.
>> I figured
>> that I would use dateTime::diff
>>
>> the existing appointment is returned as $row['apptTime'], the
>> appt being
>> tested is $dateTM
>>
>> $TAptEnd = $dateTM->add(new DateInterval('PT' . $duration .'M'));
>>
>> $date = new DateTime($row['apptTime']); //dateTime object
>> of the beginning of the next appt
>> $diff = $date->diff($TAptEnd,true); //difference between
>> the beginning of an existing appt and the end of
>> the testing.
>>
>> if ($diff->format('%i') <0 ) return 1;
>>
>> I am running into several problems that suggest that this is
>> not the
>> best way to go about this.
>>
>> 1: if the next appointment is the next day I am getting only
>> the time
>> difference between the appointments, eg 10 min, not the whole
>> time. I
>> would expect the difference to be 24 * 60 + 10, not just the 10.
>>
>> 2: if I need to use the day + hours + minutes it gets really
>> messy.
>>
>> Suggestions please.
>>
>> bill
>
> Bill,
>
> As you found out, '%i' just gives you the minutes portion of the
> DateTime.
>
> What if you converted both DateTime objects to timestamps with
> getTimestamp()? This will give you the Unix time (seconds since
> 1/1/1970) and you can subtract those to get the difference. Then
> a simple comparison of the seconds will get you the answer you need.
>
Thanks guys for: 1) the good advice, and
2) not getting into a fight over it.
bill
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