Datepicker issue: format date to "mm/dd/yyyy"

Scripting Forums AppleScriptObjC and Xcode
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#1

All,
I have datepickers in my app and I need to format their value to “mm/dd/yyyy” format.
Currently I get the output in following form:
Sunday, January 1, 2012 8:00:00 AM Pacific Standard Time

Here the code:

script AppDelegate
property aStartDate : missing value # Linked in IB
property aEndDate : missing value # Linked in IB

on submitForm()
set stdate to aStartDate's stringValue() as string
set enddate to aEndDate's stringValue() as string

display dialog stdate # Sunday, January 1, 2012 8:00:00 AM Pacific Standard Time

end submitForm
end script

Is there an easier way to format the date?

#2

Got it. Found the solution in the forums


        set stdate to aStartDate's dateValue()
        set theCal to current application's class "NSCalendar"'s currentCalendar()
        set theComponents to theCal's components_fromDate_(254, stdate)
        set theYear to theComponents's |year|() as string
        set theMonth to theComponents's |month|() as string
        set theDay to theComponents's |day|() as string
        display dialog (theMonth & "/" & theDay & "/" & theYear)
#3

You can also use a date formatter:

set stdate to current application's NSDate's |date|()
set df to current application's NSDateFormatter's alloc()'s init()
df's setDateFormat_("mm/dd/yyyy")
return df's stringFromDate_(stdate)
#4

or

set stdate to current application's NSDate's |date|()
return stdate's descriptionWithCalendarFormat_timeZone_locale_("%m/%d/%Y", missing value, missing value)
#5

thanks guys…

#6

To obtain a compact version of the date, use short date string. For example, short date string
of (current date) --result: “1/27/08”.

#7

There are two problems with that in this case, though: first, the user wants the year as yyyy, not yy, and second, he’s starting off with an NSDate, not an AS date, so short date string isn’t applicable.

#8

Yep, although the docs say: “You are strongly encouraged to migrate to using v10.4 behaviour” and “There are several problems with the implementation of this method that cannot be fixed for compatibility reasons. To format a date, you should use a date formatter object instead.”

#9

@shane: I tried using a date formatter.


set theNSDate to aStdate's dateValue() 
set df to current application's NSDateFormatter's alloc()'s init()
df's setDateFormat_("mm/dd/yyyy")
set mystdate to  df's stringFromDate_(theNSDate)
log mystdate

I got the following output
00/03/2012

I always get 00 for the month. What did I miss?

#10

Looks like it needs to be “MM/dd/yyyy”. This worked for me

#11

Yep – lowercase m is minutes.