Themosis Datetime

The Themosis datetime component provides a Clock interface around PHP date and time functions.

Installation

Install the library using Composer:

composer require themosis/datetime

Usage

The library provides 2 interfaces to deal with date and time:

1. The Clock interface
2. The MutableClock interface

As the name suggests, everytime the Clock interface is referenced, you actually get an immutable clock instance.

The MutableClock interface provides an additional method to let you modify the current time.

Create a clock (now)

The library comes with a default implementation of the Clock and MutableClock interfaces.

You can create a new clock by using the SystemClock class:

<?php

use Themosis\Components\Datetime\SystemClock;

$clock = new SystemClock();

By default, a clock without any parameters will create a clock with "now" as the current time. It also sets the current timezone to "UTC".

Get current time

To retrieve the clock current time, use the currentTime() method. The method returns a DateTimeImmutable instance you can work with.

The currentTime() method is returning the DateTimeImmutable instance with its value generated at instantiation.

<?php

use Themosis\Components\Datetime\SystemClock;

$clock = new SystemClock();
$datetime = $clock->currentTime();

Get timezone

To retrieve the clock timezone, use the timezone() method. The method returns a DateTimeZone instance.

<?php

use Themosis\Components\Datetime\SystemClock;

$clock = new SystemClock();
$timezone = $clock->timezone();

Get "now" clock

If you need to retrieve the current "now" time from the clock, use the now() method:

<?php

use Themosis\Components\Datetime\SystemClock;

$aDate = DateTimeImmutable::createFromFormat('Y-m-d H:i:s', '2020-01-01 11:05:42');

$clock = new SystemClock($aDate);
$currentTime = $clock->currentTime();
// 2020-01-01 11:05:42

$now = $clock->now();

The above $now variable is a new Clock instance. To access its value, use the currentTime() method.

Create a custom clock

The clock instance accepts 2 parameters in its constructor:

1. The currentTime as a DateTimeImmutable value.
2. The timezone as a DateTimeZone value.

You can specify the clock to represent a specific moment in time like so:

<?php

use Themosis\Components\Datetime\SystemClock;

$aDate = DateTimeImmutable::createFromFormat('Y-m-d H:i:s', '2020-01-01 11:05:42');

$clock = new SystemClock($aDate);

If no timezone is provided as a second parameter, the clock instance will set the timezone to "UTC".

In the case a timezone is specified inside the given DateTimeImmutable value, the clock instance will respect and set its timezone accordingly:

<?php

use Themosis\Components\Datetime\SystemClock;

$aDate = DateTimeImmutable::createFromFormat('Y-m-d H:i:s', '2020-01-01 11:05:42', new DateTimeZone('Europe/Brussels'));

$clock = new SystemClock($aDate);
$clock
    ->timezone()
    ->getName();

// "Europe/Brussels"

You can pass a timezone parameter to the clock constructor and it will be used as the clock timezone, overriding the timezone passed to the datetime parameter:

<?php

use Themosis\Components\Datetime\SystemClock;

$aDate = DateTimeImmutable::createFromFormat('Y-m-d H:i:s', '2020-01-01 11:05:42', new DateTimeZone('Europe/Brussels'));
$aTimezone = new DateTimeZone( 'America/New_York' );

$clock = new SystemClock( $aDate, $aTimezone );
$clock
    ->timezone()
    ->getName();

// "America/New_York"

$clock
    ->currentTime()
    ->getTimezone()
    ->getName();

// "America/New_York"

The given DateTimeImmutable instance timezone is also updated with the one provided in the constructor.

Check clock is in the past

You can check if the clock is currently in the past using the isPast() method:

<?php

use Themosis\Components\Datetime\SystemClock;

$aDate = DateTimeImmutable::createFromFormat('Y-m-d H:i:s', '2020-01-01 11:05:42');

$clock = new SystemClock($aDate);
$clock->isPast();

// true

Check clock is in the future

You can check if the clock is currently in the future using the isFuture() method:

<?php

use Themosis\Components\Datetime\SystemClock;

$aDate = DateTimeImmutable::createFromFormat('Y-m-d H:i:s', '3506-04-21 08:23:08');

$clock = new SystemClock( $aDate );
$clock->isFuture();

// true

Change current time at runtime

The SystemClock implements the MutableClock interface which extends the Clock interface.

The SystemClock can be used as an immutable and mutable clock.

You can modify the clock current time at runtime using the setCurrentTime() method:

<?php

use Themosis\Components\Datetime\SystemClock;

$clock = new SystemClock();
$clock->setCurrentTime(
    DateTimeImmutable::createFromFormat('Y-m-d H:i:s', '2020-01-01 11:05:42')
);

Change timezone at runtime

You can modify the clock timezone at runtime using the setTimezone() method:

<?php

use Themosis\Components\Datetime\SystemClock;

$clock = new SystemClock();
$clock->setTimezone(new DateTimeZone('Europe/Brussels'));