Generic strftime viewhelper for TYPO3 CMS 6.0 / Fluid

StrftimeViewHelper.php

<?php

namespace VENDOR\ExtensionName\ViewHelpers;

/**
 * Formats a Timestamp or DateTime-Object in strftime()
 * @api
 */
class StrftimeViewHelper extends \TYPO3\CMS\Fluid\Core\ViewHelper\AbstractViewHelper {
 
	/**
	 * Render the supplied DateTime object as a formatted date using strftime.
	 *
	 * @param mixed $date either a DateTime object or a string (UNIX-Timestamp)
	 * @param string $format Format String which is taken to format the Date/Time
	 * @return string Formatted date
	 * @api
	 */
	public function render($date = NULL, $format = '%A, %d. %B %Y') {
		if ($date === NULL) {
			$date = $this->renderChildren();
			if ($date === NULL) {
				return '';
			}
		}
                // Note: Datetime needs to be in global namespace, so it's \DateTime
		if ($date instanceof \DateTime) {
			try {
				return strftime($format, $date->getTimestamp());
			} catch (Exception $exception) {
				throw new \TYPO3\CMS\Fluid\Core\ViewHelper\Exception('"' . $date . '" was DateTime and could not be converted to UNIX-Timestamp by DateTime.', 200000001);
			}
		}
		return strftime($format, (int)strtotime($date));
	}
}

How to use

• Drop this file in the Classes/ViewHelpers folder of your extension and don't forget to correct the namespace declaration in line 3.
• Declare a namespace at the top of your Fluid template:

{namespace ext=VENDOR\ExtensionName\ViewHelpers}

• Use the viewhelper throughout your template like so:

<ext:strftime format="%d.%m.%Y">{myDateTimeObject}</ext:strftime>
<ext:strftime format="%d.%m.%Y">any kind of date/time string</ext:strftime>
<ext:strftime>now</ext:strftime>