Special variables for dates

gistfile1.rb

# == Schema Information
#
# Table name: showings
#
#  id           :integer         not null, primary key
#  start_time   :datetime
#  end_time     :datetime

class Showing < ActiveRecord::Base
  attr_accessor :showing_date, :start_date, :end_date
  
  validates :showing_date, :start_date, :end_date, :presence => true
  
  before_save :set_dates
  # used to set the instance variables for editing the form
  after_find :set_times
    
  def set_times
    self.showing_date = self.start_time.strftime("%A, %B %d, %Y") unless self.start_time.nil?
    self.start_date = self.start_time.strftime("%-I:%M%p") unless self.start_time.nil?
    self.end_date = self.end_time.strftime("%-I:%M%p") unless self.end_time.nil?
  end
    
  private

  def set_dates
    self.start_time = DateTime.strptime("#{start_date} #{showing_date} #{Time.now.zone}", "%I:%M%p %A, %B %d, %Y %z")
    self.end_time = DateTime.strptime("#{end_date} #{showing_date} #{Time.now.zone}", "%I:%M%p %A, %B %d, %Y %z")
  end

end

Here's the basics of my showtime model now:

class Showtime < ActiveRecord::Base

  attr_accessible   :start_date, :start_time

  attr_accessor   :starting_at, :starting_time

  belongs_to :performance

  before_validation :construct_starting_at

  validates :start_date,  :presence => true,  :date => { :after_or_equal_to => Proc.new { Date.today } }
  validates :starting_at, :date => { :after_or_equal_to => Proc.new { Time.now } }, :if => "start_date.present? && start_time.present?"

  def construct_starting_at
    if start_date.present? && start_time.present?
      self.starting_time = self.start_time.strftime("%T")
      self.starting_at = DateTime.strptime("#{start_date} #{starting_time}", "%F %T")
    end
  end

end

In case it is required, here's the basics/relevant parts of the Performance model:

class Performance < ActiveRecord::Base

  has_many :showtimes, :dependent => :delete_all
  accepts_nested_attributes_for :showtimes, :allow_destroy => true, :reject_if => lambda { |a| a[:start_date].blank? }

end

Here's the failing test:

require 'spec_helper'

describe Showtime do

  before(:each) do
    @attr = {
        :name => "Performance 1",
        :showtimes_attributes => {
              "0" => {
                  :start_date => Date.today+15.days,
                  :start_time => Time.now
              }
        }
    }
  end

  it "should test that the start time is a valid time if it exists" do
    @attr_invalid = {
        "0" => {
            :start_date => Date.today+15.days,
            :start_time => "invalid"
        }
    }
    invalid = Performance.create(@attr.merge(:showtimes_attributes => @attr_invalid))
    invalid.should_not be_valid
  end

end

Hopefully I've not broken anything in the above code in my attempt to just show the necessary parts.

I'm sorry, I've been pretty busy lately. Did you ever get this figured out?

Hey, no not yet.

I keep adding updates to my SO post (http://stackoverflow.com/questions/9955977/validate-date-and-time-fields-together-in-rails-model/) but no joy yet.

I'm starting to give up on the idea of seperate date and time fields so I've started converting my app to use a single datetime field/db column to see if that is a better option for me.

I'm now on the lookout for a datetime picker since I need the datetime to be in a textfield but I don't think the date part and time part can be split easily. Before I was using a datepicker on a textfield for the date and dropdowns for the time.

In the end I used a merged datetime text_field and the code here: codegram/date_validator#25 (comment)