Zend Framework: Zend_View_Helper_TimeSince Component Proposal

Table of Contents

1. Overview

This helper calculates the time passed from timestamps to generate a formatted string like "5 days and 4 hours". Applications of this helper are generally seen in "Created 2 weeks ago" or "Last modified 5 minutes ago" type lines.

Units supported are years, months, weeks, days, minutes, seconds. String format is the largest possible unit and if possible the unit below it. If a 1 year and 2 weeks have passed then "1 year" is the output; however, if 1 year, 2 months and 5 days have passed then "1 year and 2 months" is returned. If less than a second have passed then "less than a second" is returned.

Output is automatically translated if possible using Zend_View_Helper_Translate. The translation format is '%d months'. An already completed gettext pot file is located on Zym's demo in the data locale folder.

2. References

• Zym Project's TimeSince
• Zym Project's TimeSince gettext POT

3. Component Requirements, Constraints, and Acceptance Criteria

• This component will extend Zend_View_Helper_Abstract
• This component will allow the use of translation
• This component will format a date using a timestamp

4. Dependencies on Other Framework Components

• Zend_View_Helper_Abstract
• Zend_View_Helper_Translate

5. Theory of Operation

Calculates time passed since a specified time.

6. Milestones / Tasks

• Milestone 1: [DONE] Proposal creation
• Milestone 2: [DONE] Working Code, Documentation, Tests
• Milestone 3: Working prototype checked into the incubator.
• Milestone 4: Unit tests exist, work, and are checked into SVN.
• Milestone 5: Initial documentation exists.

7. Class Index

• Zend_View_Helper_TimeSince

8. Use Cases

9. Class Skeletons