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DateTool & SortTool

• Edit

Chris

13 Mar, 2015 05:34 PM

In Short: I would like to sort nodes by a specific date field, and ignore the dates which are older than "today".

I look for the specific event nodes...

#set ( $eventlist = $_XPathTool.selectNodes($contentRoot, "//system-data-structure/Event") )

I then try to sort the nodes by the date field (a custom field)...

$_SortTool.addSortCriterion("/system-data-structure/Event/date", "", "number", "ascending", "")
$_SortTool.sort($eventlist)

This does not seem to work at all

I run through a loop and set each variable...

#set ( $today = $_DateTool.getSystemDate() )
#set ( $datecheck = $_DateTool.toDate("dd-MM-yyyy",$eventDate) )
#set ( $difference = $_DateTool.difference($today, $datecheck).getSeconds() )

Each of these print as...

today = Fri Mar 13 11:30:33 CDT 2015
datecheck = Thu Nov 03 00:00:00 CDT 2016
difference = 51884966

So, as expected, this does not work at all...

#if ( $_DateTool.difference($today, $datecheck).getSeconds() > 1  )

Am I on the right track?

1. 1 Posted by Chris on 13 Mar, 2015 05:39 PM

   

   Full Velocity Script:

   #set ( $eventlist = $_XPathTool.selectNodes($contentRoot, "//system-data-structure/Event") )
   
   ##$_SortTool.addSortCriterion("date", "", "number", "descending", "upper-first")
   $_SortTool.sort($eventlist)
   
   <br /><br /><br />
   
   #foreach ( $event in $eventlist )
       
       #set ( $eventName = ${_EscapeTool.xml($event.getChild("name").value)} )
       #set ( $eventLinkType = $event.getChild("link").value )
       #set ( $eventDate =  $event.getChild("date").value )
       #set ( $eventThumb = $event.getChild("thumb").getChild("path").value )
       #set ( $eventDec = ${_EscapeTool.xml($event.getChild("description").value)} )
       
       #if($eventLinkType == "Internal")
   
           #set ( $eventLink = $event.getChild("internal").getChild("path").value )
   
       #else
   
           #set ( $eventLink = $event.getChild("external").value )
   
       #end
   
       
       #set ( $today = $_DateTool.getSystemDate() )
       #set ( $datecheck = $_DateTool.toDate("dd-MM-yyyy",$eventDate) )
       
       
       #set ( $difference = $_DateTool.difference($today, $datecheck).getSeconds() )
       
       today: ${today}
       event: ${datecheck}
       difference: ${difference}
       
       #if ( $_DateTool.difference($today, $datecheck).getSeconds() > 1  )
       
           ## This event is not old...
           
           <div class="row">
               <div class="col-xs-4 col-sm-4 col-md-3 hidden-xs">
                   <a href="${eventLink}" title="${eventName}">
                       <img src="${eventThumb}" class="img-circle col-xs-12 col-sm-12 col-md-12" alt="${eventName}" />
                   </a>
               </div>
               <div class="col-xs-1 visible-xs"></div>
               <div class="col-xs-10 col-sm-8">
                   <h3><a href="${eventLink}" title="${eventName}">${eventName}</a><span class="badge pull-right">${eventDate}</span></h3>
                   <p>${_DisplayTool.truncate($eventDec,200,"...",true)}</p>
               </div>
           </div>
           <hr />
   
       #end
   
   #end
   

   • index_block_xml.txt 5.59 KB
   • Edit

2. 2 Posted by Ryan Griffith on 13 Mar, 2015 05:43 PM

   

   Hi Chris,

   Thank you for attaching the Format and sample XML. To confirm, is it the sorting by the date field that is not working for you?

   Thanks!

   • Edit

3. 3 Posted by Chris on 13 Mar, 2015 05:47 PM

   

   Neither the sorting nor the datetool are working for me. Of course I have it commended out above (that is not the issue) :)

   I have a feeling that my times are not in the correct format, but they are matching!

   • Edit

4. 4 Posted by Chris on 13 Mar, 2015 05:52 PM

   

   Sorry, should have done this in the first place...these are the guys that are not cooperating...

   $_SortTool.addSortCriterion("date", "", "number", "descending", "upper-first")
   $_SortTool.sort($eventlist)
   

   and

   #if ( $_DateTool.difference($today, $datecheck).getSeconds() > 1  )
   

   • Edit

5. 5 Posted by Ryan Griffith on 13 Mar, 2015 06:11 PM

   

   Thank you for clarifying, Chris.

   One issue I am seeing is the date format you are providing in the following line has the day and month switched:

   #set ( $datecheck = $_DateTool.toDate("dd-MM-yyyy",$eventDate) )
   

   It should be:

   #set ( $datecheck = $_DateTool.toDate("MM-dd-yyyy",$eventDate) )
   

   Give this a try and let me know if that addresses the Date Tool issue.

   Regarding the sort issue, I noticed you are specifying the data type as number in the criterion, but you are passing a string. Try changing that to text to see if it resolves the issue.

   Please let me know if you have any questions.

   Thanks!

   • Edit

6. 6 Posted by Chris on 13 Mar, 2015 08:17 PM

   

   Well, having the correct formatting would make sense, thanks! :)

   I now have it working, here is what I did...

   Sorting Tool

   Because I define where the node is //system-data-structure/Event I can just call date instead of //system-data-structure/Event/date in the sortingtool.
   

   #set ( $eventlist = $_XPathTool.selectNodes($contentRoot, "//system-data-structure/Event") )
   $_SortTool.addSortCriterion("date", "", "text", "ascending", "upper-first") 
   $_SortTool.sort($eventlist)
   

   DateTool

   Referring back to a different post I found earlier today, I decided to try the "convert to number" method...it works!

   #set ( $eventDate =  $event.getChild("date").value )
   #set ( $today = $_DateTool.getSystemDate() )
   #set ( $datecheck = $_DateTool.toDate("MM-dd-yyyy",$eventDate) )    
   #set ( $todaynum = $_NumberTool.toNumber($today) )
   #set ( $checknum = $_NumberTool.toNumber($datecheck) )
   
   #if ( $todaynum < $checknum )
         ##Only New Events
   #end
   

   Saying that, I still have an odd issue. The sort tool only seems to work with dates that are part of the same year. So the sorting tool must be sorting by month, day, and then year. For instance:

   • 02-17-2016
   • 03-19-2015
   • 03-28-2016

   Now the question is, how might I correct this?

   Thanks for all your help today Ryan!
   * 02-25-2015

   • Edit

7. 7 Posted by Ryan Griffith on 16 Mar, 2015 03:32 PM

   

   Hi Chris,

   You are definitely going to have issues sorting on the string. Normally, you can split it out into different sort criterion; however, there is a known defect that will prevent you from doing so.

   That being said, what I generally recommend is to create an array of Map objects with keys that can be sorted on by the Sort Tool. Give the following a try and let me know how it works out:

   #set ($eventList = $_XPathTool.selectNodes($contentRoot, "//system-data-structure/Event"))
   #set ($lookupTable = [])
   #set ($today = $_DateTool.getSystemDate())
   #set ($todayTimestamp = $today.getTime())
   
   #if ($eventList.size() > 0)
       ## Record each upcoming event in the lookup table so they can be sorted on by the Sort Tool.
       #foreach ($event in $eventList)
           #set ($date = $_DateTool.toDate("MM-dd-yyyy",$event.getChild("date").value))
           #set ($dateTimestamp = $date.getTime())
           #if ($dateTimestamp >= $todayTimestamp)
               #set ($_void = $lookupTable.add({
                   "timestamp": $_MathTool.toInteger($dateTimestamp),
                   "event": $event
               }))
           #end
       #end
   
       ## Display the upcoming events.
       #foreach ( $e in $_SortTool.sort($lookupTable, ["timestamp"]) )        
           #set ( $event = $e.get("event") )
           #set ( $eventName = $_EscapeTool.xml($event.getChild("name").value) )
           #set ( $eventLinkType = $event.getChild("link").value )
           #set ( $eventDate =  $event.getChild("date").value )
           #set ( $eventThumb = $event.getChild("thumb").getChild("path").value )
           #set ( $eventDec = $_EscapeTool.xml($event.getChild("description").value) )
           
           #if($eventLinkType == "Internal")
               #set ( $eventLink = $event.getChild("internal").getChild("path").value )
           #else
               #set ( $eventLink = $event.getChild("external").value )
           #end
   
           <div class="row">
               <div class="col-xs-4 col-sm-4 col-md-3 hidden-xs">
                   <a href="${eventLink}" title="${eventName}">
                       <img src="${eventThumb}" class="img-circle col-xs-12 col-sm-12 col-md-12" alt="${eventName}" />
                   </a>
               </div>
               <div class="col-xs-1 visible-xs"></div>
               <div class="col-xs-10 col-sm-8">
                   <h3><a href="${eventLink}" title="${eventName}">${eventName}</a><span class="badge pull-right">${eventDate}</span></h3>
                   <p>${_DisplayTool.truncate($eventDec,200,"...",true)}</p>
               </div>
           </div>
           <hr />
       #end
   #end
   

   Please let me know if you have any questions.

   Thanks!

   • Edit

8. 8 Posted by Chris on 26 Mar, 2015 06:23 PM

   

   Figured it out: use UNIX time!

   • I changed the Calendar date selector to a Date/Time selector in my Data Definition.
   • This converted my MM-DD-YYYY date to UNIX time, a large string of seconds
   • I changed my sorttool to: $_SortTool.addSortCriterion("date", "", "number", "ascending", "upper-first")
   • Grabbed today's date, and converted it to UNIX. #set ( $today = $_DateTool.getSystemDate() ) #set ( $todaynum = $_NumberTool.toNumber($today) )
   • I compared the event's date & today's date
   • Edit

9. 9 Posted by Ryan Griffith on 26 Mar, 2015 08:16 PM

   

   Thank you for following up, Chris. I am glad to hear you were able to come up with a much better solution that won't involve multiple loops.

   I'm going to go ahead and close this discussion, please feel free to comment or reply to re-open if you have any additional questions.

   Have a great day!

   • Edit

10. Ryan Griffith closed this discussion on 08 Apr, 2015 02:43 PM.