How do I calculate holidays?

Question

I have an application that registers when people are sick and sends a notification to a manager at a certain number of workdays after this event.

I can use the properties of DateTime to skip weekends but how do I skip holidays?

I've read somewhere that church holidays are calculated from easter. But how? And how do I find easter in the first place?

Answer 1

I would use a table of known holidays for your locale, rather than try to calculate them- Outlook, for instance, lets you import a list of holidays. Remember too that there is a difference Orthodox Easter and 'Western' Easter.

If you are specifically looking to calculate Gregorian Easter have a look at this BASIC code that you can port to C# easily if you still would rather do this yourself.

https://www.assa.org.au/edm#Computer

Answer 2

Skipping holidays between dates and calculating the Easter are two different beasts and probably you want the former.

Your application should maintain a holiday list, as suggested by @GeneMyers comment about Holidays in United States

With this list you can use a code like below:

private static void Main(string[] args)
{
    var start  = new DateTime(2015, 01, 01); // Thusday
    var finish = new DateTime(2015, 01, 31); // Saturday

    var totalDays = finish.Subtract(start).TotalDays;  // 30 days
    var test1 = GetWorkingDays(start, finish, false, new List<DateTime>()); // should be 30
    var test2 = GetWorkingDays(start, finish, true , new List<DateTime>()); // should be 21
    var test3 = GetWorkingDays(start, finish, true , new List<DateTime>     // should be 19
    {
        new DateTime(2015, 01, 01), // New Year's Day
        new DateTime(2015, 01, 09), // Random holiday
        new DateTime(2015, 01, 25), // Sao Paulo city foundation, sunday
    });
}

public static int GetWorkingDays(DateTime from, DateTime to, 
                                 bool skipWeekends, IEnumerable<DateTime> holidays)
{
    var totalDays = (int)to.Subtract(from).TotalDays;

    var isHoliday = new Func<DateTime, bool>(date =>
        holidays.Contains(date));
    var isWeekend = new Func<DateTime, bool>(date => 
        date.DayOfWeek == DayOfWeek.Saturday || 
        date.DayOfWeek == DayOfWeek.Sunday);

    return Enumerable
        .Range (0, totalDays + 1)
        .Select(days => from.AddDays(days))
        .Count (date => (!skipWeekends || !isWeekend(date)) && !isHoliday(date)) - 1;
}

Answer 3

I created the following class to add/subtract/calculate business days: it includes a method to calculate Easter (which can be used to also retrieve the related Easter Monday and/or Good Friday) and a customizable IEnumerable of DateTimes to consider as "holidays" (for example, a town St. Patron's day or a company vacation period).

Here's the relevant source code: it's worth noting that the main methods (AddBusinessDays, SubtractBusinessDays and GetBusinessDays) can be either used as static helper methods or extension methods.

/// <summary>
/// Helper/extension class for manipulating date and time values.
/// </summary>
public static class DateTimeExtensions
{
    /// <summary>
    /// Calculates the absolute year difference between two dates.
    /// </summary>
    /// <param name="dt1"></param>
    /// <param name="dt2"></param>
    /// <returns>A whole number representing the number of full years between the specified dates.</returns>
    public static int Years(DateTime dt1,DateTime dt2)
    {
        return Months(dt1,dt2)/12;
        //if (dt2<dt1)
        //{
        //    DateTime dt0=dt1;
        //    dt1=dt2;
        //    dt2=dt0;
        //}

        //int diff=dt2.Year-dt1.Year;
        //int m1=dt1.Month;
        //int m2=dt2.Month;
        //if (m2>m1) return diff;
        //if (m2==m1 && dt2.Day>=dt1.Day) return diff;
        //return (diff-1);
    }

    /// <summary>
    /// Calculates the absolute year difference between two dates.
    /// Alternative, stand-alone version (without other DateTimeUtil dependency nesting required)
    /// </summary>
    /// <param name="start"></param>
    /// <param name="end"></param>
    /// <returns></returns>
    public static int Years2(DateTime start, DateTime end)
    {
        return (end.Year - start.Year - 1) +
            (((end.Month > start.Month) ||
            ((end.Month == start.Month) && (end.Day >= start.Day))) ? 1 : 0);
    }

    /// <summary>
    /// Calculates the absolute month difference between two dates.
    /// </summary>
    /// <param name="dt1"></param>
    /// <param name="dt2"></param>
    /// <returns>A whole number representing the number of full months between the specified dates.</returns>
    public static int Months(DateTime dt1,DateTime dt2)
    {
        if (dt2<dt1)
        {
            DateTime dt0=dt1;
            dt1=dt2;
            dt2=dt0;
        }

        dt2=dt2.AddDays(-(dt1.Day-1));
        return (dt2.Year-dt1.Year)*12+(dt2.Month-dt1.Month);
    }

    /// <summary>
    /// Returns the higher of the two date time values.
    /// </summary>
    /// <param name="dt1">The first of the two <c>DateTime</c> values to compare.</param>
    /// <param name="dt2">The second of the two <c>DateTime</c> values to compare.</param>
    /// <returns><c>dt1</c> or <c>dt2</c>, whichever is higher.</returns>
    public static DateTime Max(DateTime dt1,DateTime dt2)
    {
        return (dt2>dt1?dt2:dt1);
    }

    /// <summary>
    /// Returns the lower of the two date time values.
    /// </summary>
    /// <param name="dt1">The first of the two <c>DateTime</c> values to compare.</param>
    /// <param name="dt2">The second of the two <c>DateTime</c> values to compare.</param>
    /// <returns><c>dt1</c> or <c>dt2</c>, whichever is lower.</returns>
    public static DateTime Min(DateTime dt1,DateTime dt2)
    {
        return (dt2<dt1?dt2:dt1);
    }

    /// <summary>
    /// Adds the given number of business days to the <see cref="DateTime"/>.
    /// </summary>
    /// <param name="current">The date to be changed.</param>
    /// <param name="days">Number of business days to be added.</param>
    /// <param name="holidays">An optional list of holiday (non-business) days to consider.</param>
    /// <returns>A <see cref="DateTime"/> increased by a given number of business days.</returns>
    public static DateTime AddBusinessDays(
        this DateTime current, 
        int days, 
        IEnumerable<DateTime> holidays = null)
    {
        var sign = Math.Sign(days);
        var unsignedDays = Math.Abs(days);
        for (var i = 0; i < unsignedDays; i++)
        {
            do
            {
                current = current.AddDays(sign);
            }
            while (current.DayOfWeek == DayOfWeek.Saturday
                || current.DayOfWeek == DayOfWeek.Sunday
                || (holidays != null && holidays.Contains(current.Date))
                );
        }
        return current;
    }

    /// <summary>
    /// Subtracts the given number of business days to the <see cref="DateTime"/>.
    /// </summary>
    /// <param name="current">The date to be changed.</param>
    /// <param name="days">Number of business days to be subtracted.</param>
    /// <param name="holidays">An optional list of holiday (non-business) days to consider.</param>
    /// <returns>A <see cref="DateTime"/> increased by a given number of business days.</returns>
    public static DateTime SubtractBusinessDays(
        this DateTime current, 
        int days,
        IEnumerable<DateTime> holidays)
    {
        return AddBusinessDays(current, -days, holidays);
    }

    /// <summary>
    /// Retrieves the number of business days from two dates
    /// </summary>
    /// <param name="startDate">The inclusive start date</param>
    /// <param name="endDate">The inclusive end date</param>
    /// <param name="holidays">An optional list of holiday (non-business) days to consider.</param>
    /// <returns></returns>
    public static int GetBusinessDays(
        this DateTime startDate, 
        DateTime endDate,
        IEnumerable<DateTime> holidays)
    {
        if (startDate > endDate)
            throw new NotSupportedException("ERROR: [startDate] cannot be greater than [endDate].");

        int cnt = 0;
        for (var current = startDate; current < endDate; current = current.AddDays(1))
        {
            if (current.DayOfWeek == DayOfWeek.Saturday
                || current.DayOfWeek == DayOfWeek.Sunday
                || (holidays != null && holidays.Contains(current.Date))
                )
            {
                // skip holiday
            }
            else cnt++;
        }
        return cnt;
    }

    /// <summary>
    /// Calculate Easter Sunday for any given year.
    /// src.: https://stackoverflow.com/a/2510411/1233379
    /// </summary>
    /// <param name="year">The year to calcolate Easter against.</param>
    /// <returns>a DateTime object containing the Easter month and day for the given year</returns>
    public static DateTime GetEasterSunday(int year)
    {
        int day = 0;
        int month = 0;

        int g = year % 19;
        int c = year / 100;
        int h = (c - (int)(c / 4) - (int)((8 * c + 13) / 25) + 19 * g + 15) % 30;
        int i = h - (int)(h / 28) * (1 - (int)(h / 28) * (int)(29 / (h + 1)) * (int)((21 - g) / 11));

        day = i - ((year + (int)(year / 4) + i + 2 - c + (int)(c / 4)) % 7) + 28;
        month = 3;

        if (day > 31)
        {
            month++;
            day -= 31;
        }

        return new DateTime(year, month, day);
    }

    /// <summary>
    /// Retrieve holidays for given years
    /// </summary>
    /// <param name="years">an array of years to retrieve the holidays</param>
    /// <param name="countryCode">a country two letter ISO (ex.: "IT") to add the holidays specific for that country</param>
    /// <param name="cityName">a city name to add the holidays specific for that city</param>
    /// <returns></returns>
    public static IEnumerable<DateTime> GetHolidays(IEnumerable<int> years, string countryCode = null, string cityName = null)
    {
        var lst = new List<DateTime>();

        foreach (var year in years.Distinct())
        {
            lst.AddRange(new[] {
                new DateTime(year, 1, 1),       // 1 gennaio (capodanno)
                new DateTime(year, 1, 6),       // 6 gennaio (epifania)
                new DateTime(year, 5, 1),       // 1 maggio (lavoro)
                new DateTime(year, 8, 15),      // 15 agosto (ferragosto)
                new DateTime(year, 11, 1),      // 1 novembre (ognissanti)
                new DateTime(year, 12, 8),      // 8 dicembre (immacolata concezione)
                new DateTime(year, 12, 25),     // 25 dicembre (natale)
                new DateTime(year, 12, 26)      // 26 dicembre (s. stefano)
            });

            // add easter sunday (pasqua) and monday (pasquetta)
            var easterDate = GetEasterSunday(year);
            lst.Add(easterDate);
            lst.Add(easterDate.AddDays(1));

            // country-specific holidays
            if (!String.IsNullOrEmpty(countryCode))
            {
                switch (countryCode.ToUpper())
                {
                    case "IT":
                        lst.Add(new DateTime(year, 4, 25));     // 25 aprile (liberazione)
                        break;
                    case "US":
                        lst.Add(new DateTime(year, 7, 4));     // 4 luglio (Independence Day)
                        break;

                    // todo: add other countries

                    case default:
                        // unsupported country: do nothing
                        break;
                }
            }

            // city-specific holidays
            if (!String.IsNullOrEmpty(cityName))
            {
                switch (cityName)
                {
                    case "Rome":
                    case "Roma":
                        lst.Add(new DateTime(year, 6, 29));  // 29 giugno (s. pietro e paolo)
                        break;
                    case "Milano":
                    case "Milan":
                        lst.Add(new DateTime(year, 12, 7));  // 7 dicembre (s. ambrogio)
                        break;

                    // todo: add other cities

                    default:
                        // unsupported city: do nothing
                        break;

                }
            }
        }
        return lst;
    }
}

The code is quite self-explanatory, however here's a couple examples to explain how you can use it.

Add 10 business days (skipping only saturday and sunday week days)

var dtResult = DateTimeUtil.AddBusinessDays(srcDate, 10);

Add 10 business days (skipping saturday, sunday and all country-invariant holidays for 2019)

var dtResult = DateTimeUtil.AddBusinessDays(srcDate, 10, GetHolidays(2019));

Add 10 business days (skipping saturday, sunday and all italian holidays for 2019)

var dtResult = DateTimeUtil.AddBusinessDays(srcDate, 10, GetHolidays(2019, "IT"));

Add 10 business days (skipping saturday, sunday, all italian holidays and the Rome-specific holidays for 2019)

var dtResult = DateTimeUtil.AddBusinessDays(srcDate, 10, GetHolidays(2019, "IT", "Rome"));

For additional info and examples, check out this post of my blog.

Answer 4

Maybe a little too late but you can use my library Nager.Date . With my library you can calculate holidays for over 100 different countries. There is also a nuget package available.