Dates Manipulation 1

[Alphabin]

Hi experts,

I'm working on something that will only display data in the "Last xx days" (Selected by user)

Here's what I have:

FYI:
$fields[14] is the string for the field in flat file that contains the date stamp in the following format: dd/mm/yyyy

$year,$mon,$mday is the current date

if ($input{'NoDays'}) {
my ($fld_day, $fld_mon, $fld_year) = split(/\//,$fields[14]);

if (($year-$fld_year==0) && ($mon-$fld_mon==0) && ($mday-$fld_day<=$input{'NoDays'})) {
push (@found_set,[@fields]) ;
  
 }
}

So if $input{NoDays} equals 5 (which is the Last 5 days) and the current date is 1/3/2004, well it's won't work because my statement is basically limited to the current month only.

Any input would be appreciated.

 

[siberian]

Use Data::Calc

It will let you give it a date and then add/subtract another date or a timespan. A nice flexible tool.

 

[Alphabin]

I'm not really familiar with Date::calc. How simple is it to verify the difference between two dates ?

Any help would be really really appreciated...

Thank you in advance

 

[siberian]

Its easy, install it and type 'perldoc Date::Calc' to get instructions

http://www.cpan.org/modules/by-module/Date/Date-Calc-5.3.readme

 

[Alphabin]

siberian
I've installed the Date::Calc (v 5.3).

I came up with the following:
String Definition
$fields[14] = Field containing date in following format yyyy/mm/dd
$year = current year
$mon = current month
$mday = current day

if ($input{'days'}) {
	use Date::Calc qw(Delta_Days);
	my ($stmp_year, $stmp_mon, $stmp_day) = split(/\//,$fields[14]);
	@current = ($year, $mon, $mday);
	@stmp = ($stmp_year, $stmp_mon, $stmp_day);
	if (Delta_Days(@current, @stmp) <= $input{'days'}) {
	print "results here";
	}
	}

Let me know if it makes sense.
Thank you

 

[siberian]

Looks solid to me, did it work for you?

 

[Alphabin]

The code is valid... but it doesn't work.
It ignores this line:

my ($stmp_year, $stmp_mon, $stmp_day) = split(/\//,$fields
[14]);

So the @stmp contains nothing then...

But when I remove these lines the split statement is valid meaning it detects the date in the field...

if (Delta_Days(@current, @stmp) <= $input{'days'}) {
    print "results here";
    }

So there's a conflict between my "split $fields[14]" and the "Delta_Days".

Really strange...

 

[Alphabin]

Anyone with some experience using Date::Calc could help me ????

Thank you

 

[siberian]

Are you positive that $fields[14] is being populated?

 

[Alphabin]

Since I added this :

if (Delta_Days(@current, @stmp) <= $input{'days'}) {
    print "results here";
    }

The $fields[14] is not getting populated anymore. This is really strange.

 

[siberian]

This sounds fishy. Run this code and give us the output of STDERR:

if ($input{'days'}) {
print STDERR "Fields 14 at start is $fields[14]\n" ;
use Date::Calc qw(Delta_Days);
my ($stmp_year, $stmp_mon, $stmp_day) = split(/\//,$fields[14]);
print STDERR "Fields 14 postsplit is $fields[14] - stmp is $stmp_year - $stmp_mon - $stmp_day\n" ;
print STDERR "Current date is $year - $mon - $mday\n" ;
@current = ($year, $mon, $mday);
@stmp = ($stmp_year, $stmp_mon, $stmp_day);
print STDERR "Fields 14 pre-Delta Days is $fields[14]\n" ;
print STDERR "Current is " , join(":",@current);
print STDERR "\nstmp us ", join(":",@stmp);
if (Delta_Days(@current, @stmp) <= $input{'days'}) {
print "results here";
}
}



Thanks, you are not giving us any debug so its impossible to see what the data flow is.

 

[Alphabin]

siberian
Getting an error because the $fields[14] is ignore for unkown reason.

Date::Calc::Delta_Days(): not a valid date

I've isolated the coding and created a sample of the flat file and everything works perfectly. So there must be a conflict somewhere. This is really bizarre and I'm starting to get unpatient...

 

[Alphabin]

Siberian... Thank you for the support by the way. This truly appreciated

 

[siberian]

Can you give me the STDERR output of that code I pasted? It will help me see teh data flow better.

 

[Alphabin]

siberian

Here you go:

Fields 14 at start is Fields 14 postsplit is - stmp is - - Current date is 2004 - 3 - 8 Fields 14 pre-Delta Days is Current is 2004:3:8 stmp us ::Date::Calc::Delta_Days(): not a valid date

Thank you for your help.

 

[siberian]

Why is $fields[14] set to 'Fields 14' at the beginning of the code run? That of course will fail the split and thus mess everything else up.

Before date calc ever gets its hands on it your data seems munged.

print STDERR "Fields 14 at start is $fields[14]\n" ;

yields

Fields 14 at start is Fields 14

but you are depending on $fields[14] to be split like this :

my ($stmp_year, $stmp_mon, $stmp_day) = split(/\//,$fields[14]);

Of course 'Fields 14' will not pass that split.

John

 

[Alphabin]

No... Here's the results but organized

Fields 14 at start is 
Fields 14 postsplit is - stmp is - - 
Current date is 2004 - 3 - 8 
Fields 14 pre-Delta Days is 
Current is 2004:3:8 
stmp us 
::Date::Calc::Delta_Days(): not a valid date

So $fields[14] simply equals nothing.. it's a blank...


Thank you again

 

[siberian]

Great, so that tells me its something outside of that code snippet you have given sinec its nothing on entry and before you even call in Date::Calc with your use.

I think its a bug farther up. $fields[14] is undefined when you get here.

 

[Alphabin]

Yeah...But it's really strange but when I remove the Delta_Days(@stmp,@current) $fields[4] becomes defined...

Oh well, time to test, test and test again....

Thank you for your time by the way

 

[Alphabin]

Sorry.. Made an error in my last post... I mean $fields[14] not $fields[4].