Ruby on Rails 4：使用数据库和表单之间的日期

Question

I am looking for some help with converting dates back and forth from a form and database. I have been using the following method, but it seems like there should be a better/easier way to manage this.

The code in the view:

  <%= f.label :issue_date, "Date Issued" %>
  <%= f.text_field :issue_date, class: 'form-control', :value => @license.issue_date.strftime("%m-%d-%Y") %>

The code in the controller:

params[:license][:issue_date] = DateTime.strptime( params[:license][:issue_date], "%m-%d-%Y").strftime("%Y-%m-%d")
params[:license][:expiration_date] = DateTime.strptime( params[:license][:expiration_date], "%m-%d-%Y").strftime("%Y-%m-%d")

My concern is that this depends too much on the input format being correct. For instance, if the inputs 4/2/2015 instead of 4-2-2015, it breaks the code. I would appreciate any help or advice! I have been reading a lot of posts on dates, but nothing specific to answering this question.

Answer 1

Unfortunately, a date input with good UI is hard to set up in Rails, at least in my experience. If you are willing to compromise a bit on the UI, the simplest solution is to use the built-in date_select helper:

<%= f.date_select :issue_date %>

This will generate three select inputs, like this:

Rails will automatically handle translating the submission from these three inputs into a proper date in the database. Again, the UI is not great, but it does solve the date format validation problem.

Later, if you decide to use a Javascript date picker instead, set up the JS to ensure that the date value is always submitted to the server in YYYY-MM-DD format, which is what Rails expects.