How to format Facebook/Twitter dates (from the JSON feed) in Objective-C

Question

For my iPhone application...

I am looking for a way to format the Facebook created_time JSON property value.

\"created_time\": \"2010-12-0

Answer 1

Translated to Swift 2 (Nimit Parekh answer)

func retrivePostTime(postDate: String) -> String {
    let df: NSDateFormatter = NSDateFormatter()
    df.dateFormat = "eee MMM dd HH:mm:ss ZZZZ yyyy"

    let userPostdate: NSDate = df.dateFromString(postDate)!
    let currentDate: NSDate = NSDate()
    let distanceBetweenDates: NSTimeInterval = currentDate.timeIntervalSinceDate(userPostdate)
    let theTimeInterval: NSTimeInterval = distanceBetweenDates
    let sysCalendar: NSCalendar = NSCalendar.currentCalendar()
    let date1: NSDate = NSDate()
    let date2: NSDate = NSDate(timeInterval: theTimeInterval, sinceDate: date1)
    let conversionInfo: NSDateComponents = sysCalendar.components([.Hour, .Minute, .Day, .Month, .Second], fromDate: date1, toDate: date2, options: [])

    var returnDate: String = ""
    if conversionInfo.month > 0 { returnDate = String(format: "%ldmth", conversionInfo.month) }
    else if conversionInfo.day > 0 { returnDate = String(format: "%ldd", conversionInfo.day) }
    else if conversionInfo.hour > 0 { returnDate = String(format: "%ldh", conversionInfo.hour) }
    else if conversionInfo.minute > 0 { returnDate = String(format: "%ldm", conversionInfo.minute) }
    else if conversionInfo.second > 0 { returnDate = String(format: "%lds", conversionInfo.second) }

    return returnDate
}

Answer 2

"created_at" = "Sat Apr 05 06:31:57 +0000 2014";

Following Method Return How many time before twit aris.

-(NSString*)retrivePostTime:(NSString*)postDate{

    NSDateFormatter *df = [[NSDateFormatter alloc] init];
   [df setDateFormat:@"eee MMM dd HH:mm:ss ZZZZ yyyy"];
    NSDate *userPostDate = [df dateFromString:postDate];


    NSDate *currentDate = [NSDate date];
    NSTimeInterval distanceBetweenDates = [currentDate timeIntervalSinceDate:userPostDate];

    NSTimeInterval theTimeInterval = distanceBetweenDates;

    // Get the system calendar
    NSCalendar *sysCalendar = [NSCalendar currentCalendar];

    // Create the NSDates
    NSDate *date1 = [[NSDate alloc] init];
    NSDate *date2 = [[NSDate alloc] initWithTimeInterval:theTimeInterval sinceDate:date1];

    // Get conversion to months, days, hours, minutes
    unsigned int unitFlags = NSHourCalendarUnit | NSMinuteCalendarUnit | NSDayCalendarUnit | NSMonthCalendarUnit | NSSecondCalendarUnit;

    NSDateComponents *conversionInfo = [sysCalendar components:unitFlags fromDate:date1  toDate:date2  options:0];

    NSString *returnDate;
    if ([conversionInfo month] > 0) {
        returnDate = [NSString stringWithFormat:@"%ldmth ago",(long)[conversionInfo month]];
    }else if ([conversionInfo day] > 0){
        returnDate = [NSString stringWithFormat:@"%ldd ago",(long)[conversionInfo day]];
    }else if ([conversionInfo hour]>0){
        returnDate = [NSString stringWithFormat:@"%ldh ago",(long)[conversionInfo hour]];
    }else if ([conversionInfo minute]>0){
        returnDate = [NSString stringWithFormat:@"%ldm ago",(long)[conversionInfo minute]];
    }else{
        returnDate = [NSString stringWithFormat:@"%lds ago",(long)[conversionInfo second]];
    }
    return returnDate;
}

May this help lot.

Translated to Swift 2

func retrivePostTime(postDate: String) -> String {
    let df: NSDateFormatter = NSDateFormatter()
    df.dateFormat = "eee MMM dd HH:mm:ss ZZZZ yyyy"

    let userPostdate: NSDate = df.dateFromString(postDate)!
    let currentDate: NSDate = NSDate()
    let distanceBetweenDates: NSTimeInterval = currentDate.timeIntervalSinceDate(userPostdate)
    let theTimeInterval: NSTimeInterval = distanceBetweenDates
    let sysCalendar: NSCalendar = NSCalendar.currentCalendar()
    let date1: NSDate = NSDate()
    let date2: NSDate = NSDate(timeInterval: theTimeInterval, sinceDate: date1)
    let conversionInfo: NSDateComponents = sysCalendar.components([.Hour, .Minute, .Day, .Month, .Second], fromDate: date1, toDate: date2, options: [])

    var returnDate: String = ""
    if conversionInfo.month > 0 { returnDate = String(format: "%ldmth", conversionInfo.month) }
    else if conversionInfo.day > 0 { returnDate = String(format: "%ldd", conversionInfo.day) }
    else if conversionInfo.hour > 0 { returnDate = String(format: "%ldh", conversionInfo.hour) }
    else if conversionInfo.minute > 0 { returnDate = String(format: "%ldm", conversionInfo.minute) }
    else if conversionInfo.second > 0 { returnDate = String(format: "%lds", conversionInfo.second) }

    return returnDate
}