DateTimeX::Auto(3) use DateTime without needing to call constructors

SYNOPSIS


use DateTimeX::Auto -auto;

my $ga_start = '2000-04-06' + 'P10Y';
printf("%s %s\n", $ga_start, ref $ga_start); # 2010-04-06 DateTime

{
no DateTimeX::Auto;
my $string = '2000-04-06';
printf( "%s\n", ref($string) ? 'Ref' : 'NoRef' ); # NoRef
}

DESCRIPTION

DateTime is awesome, but constructing "DateTime" objects can be annoying. You often need to use one of the formatter modules, or call "DateTime->new()" with a bunch of values. If you've got a bunch of constant dates in your code, then "DateTimeX::Auto" makes all this a bit simpler.

It uses overload to overload the "q()" operator, automatically turning all string constants that match particular regular expressions into "DateTime" objects. It also overloads stringification to make sure that "DateTime" objects get stringified back to exactly the format they were given in.

The date formats supported are: 

 yyyy-mm-dd
 yyyy-mm-ddZ
 yyyy-mm-ddThh:mm:ss
 yyyy-mm-ddThh:mm:ssZ

The optional trailing 'Z' puts the datetime into the UTC timezone. Otherwise the datetime will be in DateTime's default (floating) timezone.

Fractional seconds are also supported, to an arbitrary number of decimal places. However, as "DateTime" only supports nanosecond precision, any digits after the ninth will be zeroed out. 

 my $dt         ='1234-12-12T12:34:56.123456789123456789';
 print "$dt\n"; # 1234-12-12T12:34:56.123456789000000000

Objects are blessed into the "DateTimeX::Auto::DateTime" class which inherits from "DateTime". They use UNIVERSAL::ref to masquerade as plain "DateTime" objects. 

 print ref('2000-01-01')."\n";   # DateTime

Additionally, ISO 8601 durations are supported: 

  my $dt = '2000-01-01';
  say( $dt + 'P4Y2M12D' );  # 2004-03-13

Durations are possibly not quite as clever at preserving the incoming string formatting.

The d and dt Functions

As an alternative "DateTimeX::Auto" can export a function called "d". This might be useful if you'd prefer not to have every string constant in your code turned into a "DateTime". 

 use DateTimeX::Auto 'd';
 my $dt = d('2000-01-01');

If "d" is called with a string that is in an unrecognised format, it croaks. If called with no arguments, returns a "DateTime" representing the current time.

An alias "dt" is also available. They're exactly the same.

The dur Function

Called with an ISO 8601 duration string, returns a DateTimeX::Auto::Duration object.

Object-Oriented Interface

This somewhat negates the purpose of the module, but it's also possible to use it without exporting anything, in the usual normal Perl object-oriented fashion: 

 use DateTimeX::Auto;
 
 my $dt1 = DateTimeX::Auto::DateTime->new('2000-01-01T12:00:00.1234');
 
 # Traditional DateTime style
 my $dt2 = DateTimeX::Auto::DateTime->new(
   year  => 2000,
   month => 2,
   day   => 3,
 );

Called in the traditional DateTime style, throws an exception if the date isn't valid. Called in the DateTimeX::Auto::DateTime stringy style, returns undef if the date isn't in a recognised format, but throws if it's otherwise invalid (e.g. 30th of February).

There is similarly a DateTimeX::Auto::Duration class which is a similar thin wrapper around DateTime::Duration.

EXAMPLES

 use DateTimeX::Auto ':auto';
 
 my $date = '2000-01-01';
 while ($date < '2000-02-01')
 {
   print "$date\n";
   $date += 'P1D'; # add one day
 }
 use DateTimeX::Auto 'd';
 
 my $date = d('2000-01-01');
 while ($date < d('2000-02-01'))
 {
   print "$date\n";
   $date += dur('P1D'); # add one day
 }

AUTHOR

Toby Inkster <[email protected]>.

COPYRIGHT

Copyright 2011-2012, 2014 Toby Inkster

This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.

DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTIES

THIS PACKAGE IS PROVIDED ``AS IS'' AND WITHOUT ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.

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