Calculating future dates based on date variables

sunshine66

Hi,

I've researched the PHP manual, but I'm having difficulty figuring out how to perform date calculations using PHP.

I have several dates stored in a MySQL database in the format yyyy-mm-dd. They are:

LetterDate
EventDate
CancelDate
DueDate
ExpireDate

The user will determine the LetterDate, EventDate and CancelDate from a series of select boxes (which I then convert to MySQL format to input to database)

I also have a field called "EventType."
Its value determines the value of another field called "Term" where Term is the number of months. So:
For EventType A, B & C, Term = 18
For EventType D, Term = 29
For EventType E & F, Term = 36

I want to perform calculations using PHP as follows:
1. DueDate = 60 days from the LATER of LetterDate OR EventDate
2. ExpireDate = CancelDate + Term

I also want to create a new variable as follows:
3. NoticeDate = CancelDate - 60 days

Can someone please help me figure out: these three calculations?

Installer

Here's a way to do it:

$record = array('LetterDate' => '2004-11-18', 
                'EventDate'  => '2004-12-18',
                'CancelDate' => '2005-01-18',
                'EventType'  => 'A',
                'Term'       => 18);

$letter_stamp = strtotime($record['LetterDate']);
$event_stamp  = strtotime($record['EventDate']);
$cancel_stamp = strtotime($record['CancelDate']);

$due_stamp    = strtotime('+60 days', max($letter_stamp, $event_stamp));
$expire_stamp = strtotime('+' . $record['Term'] . 'days', $cancel_stamp);
$notice_stamp = strtotime('-60 days', $cancel_stamp);

$record['DueDate']    = date('Y-m-d', $due_stamp);
$record['ExpireDate'] = date('Y-m-d', $expire_stamp);
$record['NoticeDate'] = date('Y-m-d', $notice_stamp);

sunshine66

Hi, my code interprets the ">" sign as closing HTML tag (don't ask me why). I can't use it unless it's part of HTML tag. Otherwise, everything else after > gets ignored. This sucks! but I don't know how to get around it.

rehfeld

Originally posted by sunshine66
Hi, my code interprets the ">" sign as closing HTML tag (don't ask me why). I can't use it unless it's part of HTML tag. Otherwise, everything else after > gets ignored. This sucks! but I don't know how to get around it.

use htmlentities() on it before outputing the data

sunshine66

Please demonstrate... i looked up in PHP manual (http://www.phpbuilder.com/manual/function.htmlentities.php)
but I don't understand the proper syntax.

rehfeld

use the real php manual

www.php.net/htmlentities

theres examples

sunshine66

Sorry, but I still don't get it. The examples weren't that clear to me.
Should it be something like this:?

htmlentities(">")

$record = array('LetterDate' => '2004-11-18',  

                'EventDate'  => '2004-12-18', 
                'CancelDate' => '2005-01-18', 
                'EventType'  => 'A', 
                'Term'       => 18); 

// rest of code
[code=php]