[RESOLVED] Check if current date is between two userinputted dates

benson

Hey guys and gals,

I have bene wrestling with this one for quite some time now.

For a script i want to check if the currentdate is between twee userinputted dates.

The input format of the dates are: Month.Day
Ex. 0121 Would be 21 January

I have an database with for example these dates:
Start: End:
0930 0210
0120 0822

When there are more posibiltiy's( Multiple entry possible) the first one should be selected.

First i tried just if the current dat is bigger or smaller. This whas not an good option.

So now i began making arrays. But i think this is too big af an hassle.

Current code(used for testing):

<?php
include("db/dbinf.php");
##function theme_getstyle()
##{

## Make array for first entry grab
$theme_entrys = array();

## Get SQL query ready
$theme_sql = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM db_tpl_themes") or die(mysql_error());
while($theme_resultbank=mysql_fetch_array($theme_sql))
	{
	## Fill array with mapnames to Get first entry (Standard)
	$theme_entrys[] = $theme_resultbank['theme_map'];

##Make array for date functions, and clear
unset($theme_posdate);
$theme_posdate = array();

## Get first standard (No dates) and not actives
if($theme_resultbank['theme_force']!='2'  AND $theme_resultbank['id']!='1')
	{
	##Create array for begin < End
	if($theme_resultbank['theme_begindate'] >= $theme_resultbank['theme_enddate'])
		{
		$theme_a = substr($theme_resultbank['theme_begindate'], 0,2);
		$a = $theme_a;
		while($a <= '12')
			{
			$theme_posdate[$a] = $a;
			$a++;
			}
		$theme_b = substr($theme_resultbank['theme_enddate'], 0,2);
		$b = '1';
		while($b <= $theme_b)
			{
			$theme_posdate[$b] = $b;
			$b++;
			}
		}
	##Create array for begin > End
	elseif($theme_resultbank['theme_begindate'] <= $theme_resultbank['theme_enddate'])
		{
		$theme_c = substr($theme_resultbank['theme_enddate'], 0,2) - substr($theme_resultbank['theme_begindate'], 0,2);	
		$c = substr($theme_resultbank['theme_begindate'], 0,2);
		$d = $c+$theme_c;
		while($c <= $d)
			{
			$theme_posdate[$c] = $c;
			$c++;
			}
		}
	## Time to check if current date is in the array
	print_r($theme_posdate);
	echo "<br><br><br>";	
	}
}

## Check if theme_name is found, if not subsitute with first entry
if($theme_name)
	{
	print $theme_name;
	}
else
	{
	$theme_name = $theme_entrys[0];
	}

##}
?>

Can someone help me out? Or point me in the right direction?
An example script wich is capable of this would help. I can change it to fit my needs.

Thanks in advance!

benson

found an solution.

Posted it in Code critique because im not fond of te solution...

Link Code critique post

Script for logging purpose:

<?php
include("db/dbinf.php");
function theme_getstyle()
{
##get current dates
$curdatem = date(m);
$curdated  = date(d);

## Make array for first entry grab
$theme_entrys = array();
##make array for final themename
$theme_name = array();

## Get SQL query ready
$theme_sql = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM db_tpl_themes") or die(mysql_error());
while($theme_resultbank=mysql_fetch_array($theme_sql))
	{
	## Fill array with mapnames to Get first entry (Standard)
	$theme_entrys[] = $theme_resultbank['theme_map'];

##Make array for date functions, and clear
unset($theme_posdate);
$theme_posdate = array();

## Get first standard (No dates) and not actives
if($theme_resultbank['theme_force']!='2' AND $theme_resultbank['id']!='1')
	{
	##Create array for begin < End
	if($theme_resultbank['theme_begindate'] >= $theme_resultbank['theme_enddate'])
		{
		$theme_a = substr($theme_resultbank['theme_begindate'], 0,2);
		$a = $theme_a;
		while($a <= '12')
			{
			$theme_posdate[$a] = $a;
			$a++;
			}
		$theme_b = substr($theme_resultbank['theme_enddate'], 0,2);
		$b = '1';
		while($b <= $theme_b)
			{
			$theme_posdate[$b] = $b;
			$b++;
			}
		}
	##Create array for begin > End
	elseif($theme_resultbank['theme_begindate'] <= $theme_resultbank['theme_enddate'])
		{
		$theme_c = substr($theme_resultbank['theme_enddate'], 0,2) - substr($theme_resultbank['theme_begindate'], 0,2);	
		$c = substr($theme_resultbank['theme_begindate'], 0,2);
		$d = $c+$theme_c;
		while($c <= $d)
			{
			$theme_posdate[$c] = $c;
			$c++;
			}
		}
	## Time to check if current date is in the array
	if(in_array($curdatem, $theme_posdate))
		{
		$theme_begindatem = substr($theme_resultbank['theme_begindate'], 0,2);
		$theme_enddatem = substr($theme_resultbank['theme_enddate'], 0,2);
		$theme_begindated = substr($theme_resultbank['theme_begindate'], -2,2);
		$theme_enddated = substr($theme_resultbank['theme_enddate'], -2,2);

		##Check if the date matches with either begin or enddate.
		## If so check on day scale
		if($theme_begindatem == $curdatem OR $theme_enddatem == $curdatem)
			{
			##Check if the day is bigger than beginday or smaller than endday
			if($theme_begindatem == $curdatem AND $theme_begindated <= $curdated)
				{
				$theme_name[] = $theme_resultbank['theme_map'];
				}
			elseif($theme_enddatem == $curdatem AND $theme_enddated >= $curdated)
				{
				$theme_name[] = $theme_resultbank['theme_map'];
				}
			## Not okaj? No fill in theme_name. First entry will be auto selected
			}
		else
			{
			##Date is in array but not begin or enddate, it ok then
			$theme_name = $theme_resultbank['theme_map'];
			}
		}
	}
}

## Check if theme_name is found, if not subsitute with first entry
if($theme_name)
	{
	print $theme_name[0];
	}
else
	{
	print $theme_entrys[0];
	}
}
?>

bpat1434

Given two date strings in the format of MMDD you can do:

<?php

$begin_date = '0120';
$end_date = '0822';

$begin = strtotime('2000'.$begin_date);
$end = strtotime('2000'.$end_date);
$now = strtotime('2000'.date('m').date('d'));

if($begin <= $now && $end >= $now)
{
	// Date is within beginning and ending time
}
else
{
	// Date is not within beginning and ending time
}

That only checks the month & day, and it does it in a couple lines. Not much better, but it works.

benson

Bpat you're solution does not take in account an time which goes from one year to the next year.

Ex Winter time:
Begin: End:
1021 0321

This means it is also valid if currentdate is 0121 but not valid if date is past 0321.

You're script will kick this one out.

bpat1434

Well, you didn't specify that; however, it would be better to be said that given 1021 and 0321, which years? What if they're 2006 and we're now in 2008? Without years, it's meaningless to say what would be valid.

This is the main reason why date strings are meant to have years with them... so they have some sort of context as to in what chronological order they come. Without a year, it's meaningless to say 1021 and 0322 because you could mean 2006 to 2007 or 2007 to 2008 or 2008 to 2009. You can't say with 100% certainty that the date the users submit are of a specific year can you? I know I don't know what my users think all the time.

And this is all not to mention that it could be done database side IF you have the dates stored properly in the database (i.e. in the format of YYYYMMDD). Then you can do a query similar to:

SELECT * FROM `table` WHERE `begin_date` <= '{$userDate}' AND `end_date` >= '{$userDate}'

That would put the work on mySQL and your PHP code would do nothing but parse the results. That is, if you were to set up the database properly.

benson

I know, but the point is that the year will not be specified.

The dates are for reoccuring occasions e.g. seasons, birthdays, special memorialdates etc.
So too keep the maintenance out of the system i excluded the year part.

Installer

Was replying to your code critiqure post a waste of my time?

bpat1434

Okay, so I've done the same thing with recurring events, and I still have the year. Losing the year really limits what you can and can't do with the dates. Plus, what if they want it to recur the first tuesday of every month? Since the 3rd is not always the same day (Tues, Wed, Sat, Sun) then you have to know which day it was to begin with 😉

I set up recurring events in a database so that the date of the event was a YYYYMMDD timestamp, and then in another field I put an integer denoting which type of recursion they wanted:

0 :: No recursion
5 :: Daily
4 :: Weekly
3 :: Bi-Weekly (Fortnightly)
2 :: Monthly
1 :: Annually

Now, based on that, I can grab what I need from the database based upon the start and end dates, and populate a month with each element. Now PHP is used to calculate which day it recurs upon, and populates an array of dates that there is an event.

So there are other ways to deal with recurring elements. Removing the year is not always the best of ideas. I guess if you wanted to, you could do something like:

<?php

$begin_date = '0915';
$end_date = '0202';

if(substr($begin_date, 0, 2) > substr($end_date, 0, 2))
{
	$begin_year = date('Y');
	$end_year = $begin_year+1;
}
else
{
	$begin_year = $end_year = date('Y');
}

$begin = strtotime($begin_year.$begin_date);
$end = strtotime($end_year.$end_date);
$now = strtotime(date('Ymd'));

if($begin <= $now && $end >= $now)
{
	// Date is within beginning and ending time
	echo 'Within Limits';
}
else
{
	// Date is not within beginning and ending time
	echo 'Outside Limits';
}

But still, if you had the years, you wouldn't have to pull every item out of the database, you could easily make do with it in the database 😉

Here's an example of the query to get all my recurring items that are happening based upon the user-input date:

SELECT ci.`id`, ci.`domain_id`, ci.`event_name` AS `event`, ci.`event_date`, ci.`description`, 
	ci.`end_date`, ci.`recurring`, ci.`event_time`, ci.`all_day_event`
FROM   `calendar_item` ci
WHERE (
		(
			ci.`recurring` = 0
			AND ci.`event_date` >= '{$this->_year}-{$this->_month}-01'
			AND ci.`event_date` <= '{$this->_year}-{$this->_month}-{$this->_totalDays}'
		)
		OR 
		(
			ci.`recurring` > 1
			AND ci.`end_date` >= '{$this->_year}-{$this->_month}-01'
			AND ci.`event_date` <= '{$this->_year}-{$this->_month}-{$this->_totalDays}'
		)
		OR 
		(
			ci.`recurring` = 1
			AND MONTH(ci.`event_date`) = MONTH('{$this->_year}-{$this->_month}-01')
			AND YEAR(ci.`end_date`) >= '{$this->_year}'
		)
		OR
		(
			ci.`recurring` > 0
			AND ci.`event_date` <= '{$this->_year}-{$this->_month}-{$this->_totalDays}'
			AND ci.`end_date` = '0000-00-00'
		)
	)

Now, here's how I do the recursion of each item (if needed):

	/**
	 * @desc   Sift through the result-set and generate the array for all recurring and non-recurring items
	 * @access protected
	 * @method siftRecurringItems
	 * @param  MySQL Result Resource $result
	 * @return null
	 */
	protected function siftRecurringItems($result, $var='_events')
	{
		while($row = mysql_fetch_assoc($result))
		{
			$obj = new Calendar_Item_Event;
			$obj->setID($row['id'])
				->setAllDay($row['all_day_event'])
				->setTitle($row['event'])
				->setTime($row['event_time'])
				->setDescription($row['description'])
				->generateUrl();

		list($evtYear, $evtMonth, $evtDay) = explode('-', $row['event_date']);
		list($endYear, $endMonth, $endDay) = explode('-', $row['end_date']);

		/**
		 * Single, non-recurring event
		 */
		if($row['recurring'] == 0)
			$this->{$var}[intval($evtDay)][] = $obj;
		else
		{
			$lastDay = ($endMonth == $this->_month && $endYear == $this->_year && $endDay != '00') ? intval($endDay) : $this->_totalDays;

			/**
			 * Daily Events
			 */
			if($row['recurring'] == 5)
			{
				$start = ($evtMonth == $this->_month && $evtYear == $this->_year) ? intval($evtDay) : 1;

				for($i=$start; $i<=$lastDay; $i++)
				{
					$this->{$var}[$i][] = $obj;
				}
			}
			/**
			 * Weekly Events
			 */
			elseif($row['recurring'] == 4)
			{
				$day = date('w', strtotime($row['event_date']));

				$firstDay = getFirstDay($this->_month, $day, $this->_year);

				if($this->_month == $evtMonth && $this->_year == $evtYear)
					$firstDay = intval($evtDay);

				for($i=$firstDay; $i<=$lastDay; $i+=7)
					$this->{$var}[$i][] = $obj;
			}
			/**
			 * Fortnight (14 nights), Bi-Weekly (Every other Week) Events
			 */
			elseif($row['recurring'] == 3)
			{
				$day = date('w', strtotime($row['event_date']));
				$firstDay = getFirstDay($this->_month, $day, $this->_year);

				if($this->_month == $evtMonth && $this->_year == $evtYear)
					$firstDay = intval($evtDay);

				for($i=$firstDay; $i<=$lastDay; $i+=14)
					$this->{$var}[$i][] = $obj;
			}
			/**
			 * Monthly Events
			 */
			elseif($row['recurring'] == 2)
			{
				if($this->_month != $evtMonth || $this->_year != $evtYear)
				{
					$day = date('w', strtotime($row['event_date']));
					$firstDay = getFirstDay($this->_month, $day, $this->_year);

					if($evtDay <= 7)
						$firstDay = $firstDay;
					elseif($evtDay <= 14)
						$firstDay += 7;
					elseif($evtDay <= 21)
						$firstDay += 14;
					elseif($evtDay <= 28)
						$firstDay += 21;
					else
						$firstDay = getLastDay($this->_month, $day, $this->_year);
				}
				else
					$firstDay = intval($evtDay);

				$this->{$var}[$firstDay][] = $obj;
			}
			/**
			 * Annual Events
			 */
			elseif($row['recurring'] == 1)
			{
				$this->{$var}[$evtDay][] = $obj;
			}
			else
				$this->writeErrorLog($row);
		}
	}

	return;
}

I use it in an object I create, but it does its job. And it's split 50/50 on the DB side and the PHP side. I only get those items I need, and I only reference the item object as many times as I need it in that month.

benson

@:
Depends on how you view it. I asked if there where other solutions at the time, with the info given you gave an solution. Wich whas apreciated and tested by me. And gave me insights in other methods. Altough not used, from my perspective it whas usefull.

@bpat:
I'll take some time to read/understand the code.
As you might have noticed this post whas the first after 4 years of silence, this also reflects on my coding. So i need some time to warm up and understand....