Calculate relative time in C#

Question

Given a specific DateTime value, how do I display relative time, like:

• 2 hours ago
• 3 days ago
• a month ago

Answer 1

Java for client-side gwt usage:

import java.util.Date;

public class RelativeDateFormat {

 private static final long ONE_MINUTE = 60000L;
 private static final long ONE_HOUR = 3600000L;
 private static final long ONE_DAY = 86400000L;
 private static final long ONE_WEEK = 604800000L;

 public static String format(Date date) {

  long delta = new Date().getTime() - date.getTime();
  if (delta < 1L * ONE_MINUTE) {
   return toSeconds(delta) == 1 ? "one second ago" : toSeconds(delta)
     + " seconds ago";
  }
  if (delta < 2L * ONE_MINUTE) {
   return "one minute ago";
  }
  if (delta < 45L * ONE_MINUTE) {
   return toMinutes(delta) + " minutes ago";
  }
  if (delta < 90L * ONE_MINUTE) {
   return "one hour ago";
  }
  if (delta < 24L * ONE_HOUR) {
   return toHours(delta) + " hours ago";
  }
  if (delta < 48L * ONE_HOUR) {
   return "yesterday";
  }
  if (delta < 30L * ONE_DAY) {
   return toDays(delta) + " days ago";
  }
  if (delta < 12L * 4L * ONE_WEEK) {
   long months = toMonths(delta);
   return months <= 1 ? "one month ago" : months + " months ago";
  } else {
   long years = toYears(delta);
   return years <= 1 ? "one year ago" : years + " years ago";
  }
 }

 private static long toSeconds(long date) {
  return date / 1000L;
 }

 private static long toMinutes(long date) {
  return toSeconds(date) / 60L;
 }

 private static long toHours(long date) {
  return toMinutes(date) / 60L;
 }

 private static long toDays(long date) {
  return toHours(date) / 24L;
 }

 private static long toMonths(long date) {
  return toDays(date) / 30L;
 }

 private static long toYears(long date) {
  return toMonths(date) / 365L;
 }

}