Right way to format date with strings like today, yesterday, tomorrow etc

Question

I have a date textview. And my textview holds a date string like 2011.09.17. Well I still do want to have that but I also want to add some more user friendly info for some speci

Answer 1

I usually use this handy java library for Relative Time formatting. Prety Time Library

Answer 2

Try this, i implemented it using joda-datatime2.2.jar and java SimpleDateFormat

import java.text.SimpleDateFormat;
import java.util.Date;
import org.joda.time.DateMidnight;
import org.joda.time.DateTime;
import org.joda.time.Days;
public class SmartDateTimeUtil {
private static String getHourMinuteString(Date date){
    SimpleDateFormat hourMinuteFormat = new SimpleDateFormat(" h:m a");
    return hourMinuteFormat.format(date);
}

private static String getDateString(Date date){
    SimpleDateFormat dateStringFormat = new SimpleDateFormat("EEE',' MMM d y',' h:m a");
    return dateStringFormat.format(date);
}

private static boolean isToday (DateTime dateTime) {
       DateMidnight today = new DateMidnight();
       return today.equals(dateTime.toDateMidnight());
}

private static boolean isYesterday (DateTime dateTime) {
       DateMidnight yesterday = (new DateMidnight()).minusDays(1);
       return yesterday.equals(dateTime.toDateMidnight());
}

private static boolean isTomorrow(DateTime dateTime){
    DateMidnight tomorrow = (new DateMidnight()).plusDays(1);
       return tomorrow.equals(dateTime.toDateMidnight());
}
private static String getDayString(Date date) {
        SimpleDateFormat weekdayFormat = new SimpleDateFormat("EEE',' h:m a");
        String s;
        if (isToday(new DateTime(date)))
            s = "Today";
        else if (isYesterday(new DateTime(date)))
            s = "Yesterday," + getHourMinuteString(date);
        else if(isTomorrow(new DateTime(date)))
            s = "Tomorrow," +getHourMinuteString(date);
        else
            s = weekdayFormat.format(date);
        return s;
}

public static String getDateString_shortAndSmart(Date date) {
        String s;
        DateTime nowDT = new DateTime();
        DateTime dateDT = new DateTime(date);
        int days = Days.daysBetween(dateDT, nowDT).getDays();   
        if (isToday(new DateTime(date)))
            s = "Today,"+getHourMinuteString(date);
        else if (days < 7)
            s = getDayString(date);
        else
            s = getDateString(date);
        return s;
}

}

Simple cases to use and test the Util class:

import java.util.Calendar;
import java.util.Date;

public class SmartDateTimeUtilTest {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        System.out.println("Date now:"+SmartDateTimeUtil.getDateString_shortAndSmart(new Date()));
        System.out.println("Date 5 days before :"+SmartDateTimeUtil.getDateString_shortAndSmart(getFutureDay(-5)));
        System.out.println("Date 1 day before :"+SmartDateTimeUtil.getDateString_shortAndSmart(getFutureDay(-1)));
        System.out.println("Date last month:"+SmartDateTimeUtil.getDateString_shortAndSmart(getFutureMonth(-1)));
        System.out.println("Date last year:"+SmartDateTimeUtil.getDateString_shortAndSmart(getFutureDate(-1)));
        System.out.println("Date 1 day after :"+SmartDateTimeUtil.getDateString_shortAndSmart(getFutureDay(1)));
    }
    public static Date getFutureDate(int numberOfYears){
        Calendar c = Calendar.getInstance();
        c.setTime(new Date());
        c.add(Calendar.YEAR, numberOfYears); 
        return c.getTime();
    }
    public static Date getFutureMonth(int numberOfYears){
        Calendar c = Calendar.getInstance();
        c.setTime(new Date());
        c.add(Calendar.MONTH, numberOfYears); 
        return c.getTime();
    }

    public static Date getFutureDay(int numberOfYears){
        Calendar c = Calendar.getInstance();
        c.setTime(new Date());
        c.add(Calendar.DATE, numberOfYears); 
        return c.getTime();
    }
}

Answer 3

public class RelativeWeekday {                
    private final Calendar mCalendar;                

    public RelativeWeekday(Calendar calendar) {                
        mCalendar = calendar;                
    }                

    @Override                
    public String toString() {                
        Calendar today = Calendar.getInstance(Locale.getDefault());
        int dayOfYear = mCalendar.get(Calendar.DAY_OF_YEAR);
        if (Math.abs(dayOfYear - today.get(Calendar.DAY_OF_YEAR)) < 2) {
            return getRelativeDay(today);
        }              

        return getWeekDay();                
    }                

    private String getRelativeDay(Calendar today) {                
        return DateUtils.getRelativeTimeSpanString(                
                mCalendar.getTimeInMillis(),                
                today.getTimeInMillis(),                
                DateUtils.DAY_IN_MILLIS,                
                DateUtils.FORMAT_SHOW_WEEKDAY).toString();                
    }                

    private String getWeekDay() {                
        SimpleDateFormat dayFormat = new SimpleDateFormat("EEEE");                
        return dayFormat.format(mCalendar.getTimeInMillis());                
    }                
}

Answer 4

For android Use JodaTime library in build.gradle file:

compile 'net.danlew:android.joda:2.9.9'

public static String formateddate(String date) {
    DateTime dateTime = DateTimeFormat.forPattern("dd-MMM-yyyy").parseDateTime(date);
    DateTime today = new DateTime();
    DateTime yesterday = today.minusDays(1);
    DateTime twodaysago = today.minusDays(2);
    DateTime tomorrow= today.minusDays(-1);

    if (dateTime.toLocalDate().equals(today.toLocalDate())) {
        return "Today ";
    } else if (dateTime.toLocalDate().equals(yesterday.toLocalDate())) {
        return "Yesterday ";
    } else if (dateTime.toLocalDate().equals(twodaysago.toLocalDate())) {
        return "2 days ago ";
    } else if (dateTime.toLocalDate().equals(tomorrow.toLocalDate())) {
        return "Tomorrow ";
    } else {
        return date;
    }
}

Answer 5

getRelativeTimeSpanString added in API level 3

getRelativeTimeSpanString (long time, long now, long minResolution)

Returns a string describing 'time' as a time relative to 'now'.

Time spans in the past are formatted like "42 minutes ago". Time spans in the future are formatted like "In 42 minutes". More information you can find here:

https://developer.android.com/reference/android/text/format/DateUtils

    Calendar now = Calendar.getInstance();
    return DateUtils.getRelativeTimeSpanString(time, now.getTimeInMillis(), DateUtils.DAY_IN_MILLIS);

Answer 6

You could try getRelativeDateTimeString in DateUtils http://developer.android.com/reference/android/text/format/DateUtils.html