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How do I calculate relative time?
Is there anything similar to rails' time_ago_in_words helper for asp.net MVC?
2 Answers
Depending on your intended output target, the jQuery plugin Timeago may be a better option.
Here's an HtmlHelper to create an <abbr /> element containing an ISO 8601 timestamp:
public static MvcHtmlString Timeago(this HtmlHelper helper, DateTime dateTime) {
var tag = new TagBuilder("abbr");
tag.AddCssClass("timeago");
tag.Attributes.Add("title", dateTime.ToString("s") + "Z");
tag.SetInnerText(dateTime.ToString());
return MvcHtmlString.Create(tag.ToString());
}
Combine the above helper's output with the following JavaScript somewhere on your page and you'll be in the money.
<script src="jquery.min.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
<script src="jquery.timeago.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
jQuery(document).ready(function() {
jQuery("abbr.timeago").timeago();
});
2 Comments
empz
If I pass a dateTime.ToUniversal() date the timeago calculates the relative time properly but the tooltip shows the time in UTC timezone instead of the client computer timezone. What am I'm missing?
Luke
I really love this, thanks! I think that the original output of the date could be more friendly though in
SetInnerText, I will be changing that so that it degrades nicely.I'm currently using the following extension method. Not sure if it's the best one available out there.
public static string ToRelativeDate(this DateTime dateTime)
{
var timeSpan = DateTime.Now - dateTime;
if (timeSpan <= TimeSpan.FromSeconds(60))
return string.Format("{0} seconds ago", timeSpan.Seconds);
if (timeSpan <= TimeSpan.FromMinutes(60))
return timeSpan.Minutes > 1 ? String.Format("about {0} minutes ago", timeSpan.Minutes) : "about a minute ago";
if (timeSpan <= TimeSpan.FromHours(24))
return timeSpan.Hours > 1 ? String.Format("about {0} hours ago", timeSpan.Hours) : "about an hour ago";
if (timeSpan <= TimeSpan.FromDays(30))
return timeSpan.Days > 1 ? String.Format("about {0} days ago", timeSpan.Days) : "yesterday";
if (timeSpan <= TimeSpan.FromDays(365))
return timeSpan.Days > 30 ? String.Format("about {0} months ago", timeSpan.Days / 30) : "about a month ago";
return timeSpan.Days > 365 ? String.Format("about {0} years ago", timeSpan.Days / 365) : "about a year ago";
}
The helper should be somthing like this:
public MvcHtmlString Timeago(this HtmlHelper helper, DateTime dateTime)
{
return MvcHtmlString.Create(dateTime.ToRelativeDate());
}
Hope it helps!
1 Comment
Tom Gullen
Small nitpick, you have pluralisation errors with this function
time_ago_in_wordsoperates would probably go a long way toward helping folks answer this effectively. Including details on how you want to use it would be even better.