How to get custom form fields from controller -- a.k.a. how to not use date helpers in form

Question

I created a form with scaffold that includes two datetime fields. I replaced them with a datepicker, and now I'm trying to grab the date from within the controller. Instead of having ruby do all the magic work with the datefields, I instead just have to fields, start_date and stop_date that I want to use, but I can't figure out how to grab them from within my controller. Hints? Thanks!

Answer 1

You have at least two options:

• Try using Time.parse(params[:start_date]) (which does a REALLY good job)
• Try to parse out the contents yourself. (which I won't even recommend)

I've been using Time.parse with a full success rate. BUT keep in mind that if your app crosses country boundaries, the parse for months and days might get reversed. (i.e. 10/1/2008 in Brazil is really January 10, 2008, compared to the US standard October 1, 2008).

EDIT:

Here's an example with a test application that runs on SQLite. It should work the same way for you. Let me know if it doesn't:

>> a = Post.first
=> #<Post id: 1, title: "title 1 ", updated_by: nil, deleted_by: 1, created_at: "2009-11-23 18:48:23", updated_at: "2009-11-23 18:48:23">
>> a.updated_at = Time.parse('01/02/2010')
=> Sat Jan 02 00:00:00 -0500 2010
>> a.save
  Post Update (44.9ms)   UPDATE "posts" SET "updated_at" = '2010-02-03 12:59:32' WHERE "id" = 1
=> true
>>