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Version: main (5.0)

Date and Time Output Classes

Since 5.0

The humandate and humantimeperiod classes in Moodle are designed to render timestamps and time periods in a human-readable format. These classes provide functionality to display dates as "Today", "Yesterday", "Tomorrow", and apply alert styling if the date is near the current date.

Using human time representation output classes​

Both classes can be used as a normal output class in Moodle. Each class represent way of show dates and time in a human readable way:

  • humandate: This renderer presents single dates and times in a user-friendly format, automatically adapting to the user's preferences and with some extra customization options.
  • humantimeperiod: Designed for displaying date/time ranges, this renderer optimizes information presentation, eliminating redundant date information and representing time in a more user friendly way.

humandate Class​

The humandate class is used to render a single timestamp as a human-readable date.

inplace editable example.png

Example Usage​

This will output "Today" if the timestamp is for the current day.
use core_calendar\output\humandate;

$renderer = $PAGE->get_renderer('core', 'output');
$timestamp = (\core\di::get(\core\clock::class))->time();

// Basic example.
$humandate = humandate::create_from_timestamp($timestamp);
echo $renderer->render($humandate);

// Example adding a link to the date.
$humandate = humandate::create_from_timestamp(
    timestamp: $timestamp,
    link: new core\url('/calendar/view.php', ['view' => 'day', 'time' => $timestamp]),
);
echo $renderer->render($humandate);

// Example showing only the time.
$humandate = humandate::create_from_timestamp(
    timestamp: $timestamp,
    timeonly: true,
);
echo $renderer->render($humandate);

humantimeperiod Class​

The humantimeperiod class is used to render a time period in a human-readable format.

inplace editable example.png

Example Usage​

use core_calendar\output\humantimeperiod;

$renderer = $PAGE->get_renderer('core', 'output');
$starttimestamp = (\core\di::get(\core\clock::class))->time();
$endtimestamp = $starttimestamp + HOURSECS;

// Basic example.
$humantimeperiod = humantimeperiod::create_from_timestamp($starttimestamp, $endtimestamp);
echo $renderer->render($humantimeperiod);

// Example adding a link to the date.
$humantimeperiod = humantimeperiod::create_from_timestamp(
    starttimestamp: $starttimestamp,
    endtimestamp: $endtimestamp,
    link: new core\url('/calendar/view.php', ['view' => 'day', 'time' => $starttimestamp]),
);
echo $renderer->render($humantimeperiod);