[rt-users] problems getting dates parsed with RT::Date

[darren chamberlain]

* Ted Serreyn <ted at serreyn.com> [2002-08-21 11:44]:
> I am trying to get a date that looks like "Fri Mar 08 12:14:32 CST
> 2002" parsed into RT using the RT::Date methods.  However it is not
> working.
> 
> Is there any documentation on exactly what RT::Date will parse?

 From perldoc RT::Date:

    Set

      takes a param hash with the fields 'Format' and 'Value'

      if $args->{'Format'} is 'unix', takes the number of sec­
      onds since the epoch

      If $args->{'Format'} is ISO, tries to parse an ISO date.

      If $args->{'Format'} is 'unknown', require Date::Parse and
      make it figure things out. This is a heavyweight operation
      that should never be called from within RT's core. But
      it's really useful for something like the textbox date
      entry where we let the user do whatever they want.

      If $args->{'Value'}  is 0, assumes you mean never.

> @Arrival, @Closed and @LastUpdated all contain dates in the format
> given above?

Turn these lists into scalars (see my example below).

>     my $RTCreated = new RT::Date();
>     my $RTResolved = new RT::Date();
>     my $RTLastUpdated = new RT::Date();
>     $RTCreated->Set (Format => 'unknown',
>                      Value => @Arrival);
>     $RTResolved->Set (Format => 'unknown',
>                      Value => @Closed);
>     $RTLastUpdated->Set (Format => 'unknown',
>                      Value => @LastUpdated);


This shouldn't work.  Perl is flattening @Arrival, @Closed, and
@LastUpdated into multiple scalars, which means the these calls look
like:

  $RTLastUpdated->Set("Format",
                      "unknown",
                      "Value",
                      "Fri",
                      "Mar",
                      "08",
                      "12:14:32",
                      "CST",
                      "2002");

That is, a call to the Set() method with 9 parameters.  Try:

  $RTLastUpdated->Set(Format => 'unknown',
                      Value => join " ", @LastUpdated);

And it should work for you.

(darren)

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