Date In the Past

Questions & Suggestions
1

I am seeking a way to start with a date in a specific format, call it, 2017-02-08. I am not stuck on the year-month-day format at this point but it is similar to an example I have using Typinator and JavaScript. Typinator does a great job tracking dates for me. But those dates are preset. This one I want to start and end with a selected text date.

This date value will already be on a document. To begin the macro I will highlight the date and …

What I want is to calculate from that past (selected) date until today and have the results paste back as or similar to:
“From 2017-02-08 it has been 35 days as of Wed. March 15, 2017.” here assuming I did this on that later date.

This is for tracking progress notes in several files. I think it will be useful when I enter some notes on a date to later be able to review progress in my notes and have a macro tell me how long it has been sitting there - for whatever reason, closed, side tracked, etc.

I looked for a date item in the KM macros but did not find one. I looked and there are several date calculation threads on this forum, none of which appeared simple enough to easily grasp for this purpose.

The example I took from my Typinator macro looks like this:

function expand(dateParameter, context) { // – parameter: yyyy-mm-dd
_ var today = new Date()_
_ today.setHours(0)_
_ today.setMinutes(0)_
_ today.setSeconds(0)_

_ var eventDate = new Date(dateParameter)_

_ var sinceUntil = eventDate > today ? 'until ’ : ‘since’_

_ var mSecPerDay=10006060*24_
_ var diffMsec = Math.abs(today-eventDate); // difference in milliseconds_
_ var diffDays = Math.round(diffMsec/mSecPerDay)_
_ res1 = diffDays < 10 ? ‘0’ + diffDays : diffDays_

_ return “{{refDate=” + dateParameter + “}}” + res1 + " days " + sinceUntil_
}

I am not skilled enough to understand how to tweak this into what I am asking for. I looks like if I set the clipboard value (the date) to dateParameter as a variable and simply run this script, it should do. Will play with it a while. Still, it never hurts to ask in case I am wasting my time.

Thanks for any help.

2

Here is a acro that will do that. No scripting required since Keyboard Maestro already has a bunch of date functions.

If it will always be at least 2 days ago, you can remove that second last action (the If Then Else action), but I never like to say "1 days ago", the extranious s always bothers me.

Days Ago.kmmacros (4.0 KB)

Keyboard Maestro Export.png1218×2280 222 KB

The ROUND in the calculation should not be needed since the dates are always GMT there should be no daylight savings issues or the like, but I left it in anyway.

1 Like
3

Excellent, thanks much. I was trying, not succeeding but, trying. I really appreciate the help.

Looking around this page for the “Solved” button now to close this topic.

Found it. :slight_smile:

4

Sorry, but you found the wrong "Solved" checkbox.
Every post in this topic has a "Solved" checkbox at the bottom of the post.
You checked the one at the bottom of your post.
I think you intended to check the one at the bottom of Peter's post.

5

Sorry, I hadn’t figure that out yet. :grimacing:

6

Hey @levelbest,

Here’s how to do it with AppleScriptObjC:

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
# Auth: Christopher Stone { Heavy Lifting by Shane Stanley }
# dCre: 2016/03/17 03:45
# dMod: 2017/02/10 14:37
# Appl: AppleScriptObjC
# Task: Use Data-Detectors to extract a date from unstructured string input.
#     : Output number of days elapsed until today.
# Libs: None
# Osax: None
# Tags: @Applescript, @Script, @ASObjC, @Date, @String, @Data-Detectors
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
use AppleScript version "2.4"
use framework "Foundation"
use scripting additions
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

# Example Date String Inputs:
set inputStr to "2017/01/01 10:31:21"

# Extract the date
set startDate to my getDatesIn:inputStr
set startDate to first item of (startDate as list)

# Get the current date
set currentDate to current date

# Convert from ObjC-Date-Object to an AppleScript date:
considering numeric strings
   if AppleScript's version < "2.5" then
      set startDate to my makeASDateFrom:startDate
   else
      set startDate to startDate as date
   end if
end considering

# Zero-out the time
set hours of startDate to 0
set minutes of startDate to 0
set seconds of startDate to 0

set numberOfDays to (((get current date) - startDate - (1 * days)) / days) as integer

# Create formatted date strings for output:
set startDate to my formatDate:(startDate) usingFormat:"y-MM-dd"
set endDate to my formatDate:currentDate usingFormat:"eee. y-MM-dd"

# Assemble output string:
set outputString to "From " & startDate & " it has been " & numberOfDays & " days as of " & endDate

return outputString

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
--» HANDLERS
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
on formatDate:theDate usingFormat:formatString
   if class of theDate is date then set theDate to my makeNSDateFrom:theDate
   set theFormatter to current application's NSDateFormatter's new()
   theFormatter's setLocale:(current application's NSLocale's localeWithLocaleIdentifier:"en_US_POSIX")
   theFormatter's setDateFormat:formatString
   set theString to theFormatter's stringFromDate:theDate
   return theString as text
end formatDate:usingFormat:
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
on getDatesIn:aString
   # Convert string to Cocoa string
   set anNSString to current application's NSString's stringWithString:aString
   # Create data detector
   set theDetector to current application's NSDataDetector's dataDetectorWithTypes:(current application's NSTextCheckingTypeDate) |error|:(missing value)
   # Find first match in string; returns an NSTextCheckingResult object
   set theMatch to theDetector's firstMatchInString:anNSString options:0 range:{0, anNSString's |length|()}
   if theMatch = missing value then error "No date found"
   # Get the date property of the NSTextCheckingResult
   set theDate to theMatch's |date|()
   return theDate
end getDatesIn:
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
# Required before 10.11
on makeASDateFrom:theNSDate
   set theCalendar to current application's NSCalendar's currentCalendar()
   set comps to theCalendar's componentsInTimeZone:(missing value) fromDate:theNSDate # 'missing value' means current time zone
   tell (current date) to set {theASDate, year, day, its month, day, time} to ¬
      {it, comps's |year|(), 1, comps's |month|(), comps's |day|(), (comps's hour()) * hours + (comps's minute()) * minutes + (comps's |second|())}
   return theASDate
end makeASDateFrom:
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
on makeNSDateFrom:theASDate
   set {theYear, theMonth, theDay, theSeconds} to theASDate's {year, month, day, time}
   if theYear < 0 then
      set theYear to -theYear
      set theEra to 0
   else
      set theEra to 1
   end if
   set theCalendar to current application's NSCalendar's currentCalendar()
   set newDate to theCalendar's dateWithEra:theEra |year|:theYear |month|:(theMonth as integer) ¬
      |day|:theDay hour:0 minute:0 |second|:theSeconds nanosecond:0
   return newDate
end makeNSDateFrom:
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This has only one real advantage over Peter’s method, in that it does NOT need to know the format of the date-input string (due to using Apple’s Data Detectors).

-Chris

1 Like
7

Just for fun and possible interest, here is a solution using JXA:
I think it may be the simplest solution.

Note that it tries to get the Start Date from a KM Variable "Start_Date".

2017-02-10 21:44 CT

##javascript Date Difference

(function run() {

var kmeApp = Application("Keyboard Maestro Engine");
var startDateStr = kmeApp.getvariable('GDD__Start_Date');

try {

  if (! startDateStr) {throw new Error("Invalid Date: >>>" + startDateStr + "<<<")}
  
  var startDate  = createDate(startDateStr);
  today = new Date();
    
  var day2Sec = 1000 * 3600 * 24;
  var daysDiff = Math.trunc((today.getTime() - startDate.getTime())/day2Sec);


  return daysDiff;
}
catch (oErr) {
  return "[ERROR]\n" + oErr.message
}

function createDate(pDateStr) {
  
  dateFromStr = new Date(pDateStr);
  
  if (!dateFromStr || isNaN(dateFromStr)) {throw new Error("Invalid Date: >>>" + pDateStr + "<<<")}
  
  //--- ADD TIME ZONE OFFSET IF DATE STRING IS ISO FORMAT ---
  
  if (RegExp(/^\d{4}[\/\.-]\d\d[\/\.-]\d\d/).test(pDateStr)) {
    dateFromStr.setMinutes(dateFromStr.getMinutes() + dateFromStr.getTimezoneOffset());
    }

  return dateFromStr;
}

})();

JavaScript Date() function is very accommodating for different string date formats. For example:

##javascript Date String to Date Script

var myDates = {};

//--- EXAMPLE OF THE SAME DATE FORMATTED IN 3 COMMON WAYS ---

myDates.iso = createDate("2017-02-08");
myDates.us  = createDate("2/08/2017");
myDates.us2  = createDate("Feb 8, 2017");

//--- CURRENT DATE/TIME ---
myDates.today = new Date();

logObj(myDates);

//~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ END OF MAIN SCRIPT ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

function createDate(pDateStr) {
  
  dateFromStr = new Date(pDateStr);
  
  //--- ADD TIME ZONE OFFSET IF DATE STRING IS ISO FORMAT ---
  //    (like "2016-02-10")
  //    When a date object is created from a string in ISO format,
  //    JavaScript assumes you intend this to be in GMT time zone,
  //    and so subtracts the time zone offset for your locale.
  
  if (RegExp(/^\d{4}[\/\.-]\d\d[\/\.-]\d\d/).test(pDateStr)) {
    dateFromStr.setMinutes(dateFromStr.getMinutes() + dateFromStr.getTimezoneOffset());
    console.log("converted ISO Date: " + pDateStr);
    }

  return dateFromStr;
}

function logObj(pObject) {
  for (key in pObject){
    console.log(key + ": " + pObject[key]);
  }
}

// RESULTS:
/* converted ISO Date: 2017-02-08 */
/* Fri Feb 10 2017 21:39:58 GMT-0600 (CST) */
/* iso: Wed Feb 08 2017 00:00:00 GMT-0600 (CST) */
/* us: Wed Feb 08 2017 00:00:00 GMT-0600 (CST) */
/* us2: Wed Feb 08 2017 00:00:00 GMT-0600 (CST) */
/* today: Fri Feb 10 2017 21:39:58 GMT-0600 (CST) */



So here's my macro based on JavaScript:

###Example Results

<img src="/uploads/default/original/2X/4/45c607636845d64dd26b707289e63c10dc4b60ac.png" width="445" height="205">

###MACRO:&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Get Date Difference in Days @Example

~~~ VER: 1.0&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;2017-02-10 ~~~

####DOWNLOAD:
<a class="attachment" href="/uploads/default/original/2X/e/e79864777739a2cae6779b92b797caf58ffc137d.kmmacros">Get Date Difference in Days @Example.kmmacros</a> (8.8 KB)

---

###ReleaseNotes

All date calculations are done in a JXA script.

---

<img src="/uploads/default/original/2X/2/229aecf7e2962b3a0aea6548fc00f6023abbb6ac.png" width="565" height="1037">
1 Like