How to convert 1-7(day) 1-31(date) 1-12(month) and 2007 info the equiv of date('r')

**dansgalaxy** · 08-20-2007, 10:50 AM

hey,

i have a script which i have the user choose a date via dropdowns and end up with 4 fields in my DB
with
Day
date
month
year

but down i im at the point where i want to have the events which i retrieve from the DB to be sorted by date, from the newest to the oldest.

and while i like the format it displays of

Sunday 1/1/2007

its all done like:

PHP Code:


			
$content .= $row['day'];
$content .= '&nbsp;';
$content .= $row['date'];
$content .= '/';
$content .= $row['month'];
$content .= '/';
$content .= $row['year'];

so how would i go about having the script order it by date??

also how could i validate that the input is a valid date?

so if they input

Sunday 25 / 02 / 2007

and it happens that the 25th of feb 2007 is actually a monday

or they enter something like 30/02/2007 which obviously isnt right...

Thanks
TAlkupation for people who help.
Dan

**TwistMyArm** · 08-20-2007, 11:08 AM

Honestly? It comes down to the fact that you really shouldn't be using 4 fields in the DB. Why aren't you just storing the given date in a single datetime (or even timestamp) type column? That way you can sort on the column when you make the SQL request and then just format the date however you want when displaying it to the user...

**dansgalaxy** · 08-20-2007, 11:51 AM

i know,

the only reason is becasue i dont know how to convert it to what i want

i would prefer to save it as date('r') but wouldnt know how to go aboutsaving it in that format. from four drop down boxes.

how could i convertit into the date('r') format?...

**flann** · 08-20-2007, 02:55 PM

retrieving a date and formatting it from a DB is so much easier.

http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.0/...functions.html

Let's say you have a timestamp field and you want to display it as: Sunday 25/4/2007

SELECT DATE_FORMAT(datefield, '%W %e/%c/%Y')

**dansgalaxy** · 08-20-2007, 02:59 PM

Ok yea... but how do i get that timestamp from the four drop downs i have!!?

**flann** · 08-20-2007, 03:02 PM

when you are inserting the values into the database, just simply put them together as a date, and you don't need to worry about the day of the week ie. Sunday because MySQL will be able to figure that out for you.

**dansgalaxy** · 08-20-2007, 04:08 PM

ok so what format should i save them in?

like 01 03 07 or 01/03/07 ?.. :s

**flann** · 08-20-2007, 04:21 PM

yyyy-mm-dd