Working With Rails

Tztime

[Boring Introduction]

TzTime is a wrapper for the Time class. It associates a time instance with a time zone, and keeps the two together. It quacks very much like a Time instance, and even provides the same extension methods that Rails adds to time objects.

By combining the time and the time zone in a single time-like class, you can simplify much of the time-zone gymnastics that you were previously forced to do.

[Exciting Introduction]

TzTime is subversive. It even sounds subversive, like sharp incisors snicking together in the dark. It sneaks into your app from the inside and stuffs time zone support into the cracks. It’s like a little ruby-colored rat, poking around in the under-basement of your code, but instead of chewing away at the infrastructure with its sharp little teeth (and believe me, they are sharp), it builds fluffy (and oh, so comfortable!) little time-zone flavored nests wherever it can.

This look familiar?

class TasksController < ApplicationController
  def create
    task = account.tasks.build(params[:task])
    task.alert_at = current_user.time_zone.local_to_utc(task.alert_at)
    task.save!
  end
end

Oh, that awful bloating sensation! Because the time zone is not globally accessible, you have to jump through hoop and ungainly hoop in your controllers…or pass the unfortunate time zone to method after method.

No more! Let the Rodent of Unusually Fine TZ Acumen aid you:

class ApplicationController < ActionController:Base
  around_filter :set_timezone
end

private

def set_timezone
  TzTime.zone = current_user.time_zone
  yield
  TzTime.reset!
end

class Task < ActiveRecord::Base
  before_create :fix_timezone
end

private

def fix_timezone
  self.alert_at = TzTime.at(self.alert_at)
end

class TasksController < ApplicationController
  def create
    task = account.tasks.create(params[:task])
  end
end

Let the rat cart the time-zone around for you! Refactor those nasty time zone conversions into your model, where they belong. Soar through the heady winds of your application’s stratosphere, comfortable in the knowledge that you have helpful little rats scurrying about in the dark.

Or maybe they’re gnomes.

NOTE: This description has been extracted from the Plugin README and so the formatting may need updating to make browser friendly