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Date: Sun, 2 Sep 2012 00:08:10 -0400
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To: Derick Rethans <derick@php.net>
Cc: PHP Developers Mailing List <internals@lists.php.net>
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Subject: Re: [PHP-DEV] RFC for Adding __toString to DateTime
From: willfitch@php.net (Will Fitch)

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On Sat, Sep 1, 2012 at 4:54 PM, Derick Rethans <derick@php.net> wrote:

> On Sat, 1 Sep 2012, Will Fitch wrote:
>
> > I would like to officially introduce an RFC with a patch to implement
> > __toString to DateTime.  This is a commonly requested feature that goes
> > unanswered mostly because of the inability to agree on a default pattern.
> >
> > In short, the patch uses the ISO-8601 format as the default pattern.  The
> > pattern may be changed via setDefaultPattern and
> date_default_pattern_set,
> > as explained in the RFC.
>
> The default should most definitely not be ISO-8601 - as it's a lossy
> format.
>

In terms of lossy transmission/storage, what concerns in regards to the
pattern are you referring to?  ISO-8601 is only output *if* there is no
pre-set pattern provided. So in essance,


>
> > The link to the RFC and patch are here:
> > https://wiki.php.net/rfc/datetime_tostring.
>
> > Methods Added
> >
> > void DateTime::setDefaultPattern(string $pattern)
> > string DateTime::getDefaultPattern(void)
>
> This should be descriptive. You are *only* dealing with __toString here.
> Hence the method names should reflect that:
>
>   void DateTime::setToStringFormat(string $pattern)
>   string DateTime::getToStringFormat(void)


> However, I still don't believe this belongs in the class at all. It is
> rather trivial to do this in userland:
>
> class MyDateTime extends DateTime {
>         static $format = "... some format...";
>         function __toString() { return $this->format(DateTime::$format); }
> }
>
> There, 4 lines. And no quaralling about formats or naming.
>

I'm definitely not sold on any naming convention or format, and I don't see
any quarrelling going on.  The purpose of the RFC is to come up with a
solution and discuss implementation.   I don't expect any quarrels for
something this simple.

I would like this discussed.  This is a feature often brought up and
requested.  I understand that it may be difficult to come to a solution,
but let's try.


>
> > <?php
> > $date = new DateTime('2012-09-01 02:43:00');
> > print_r($date);
>
> Should not output just:
>
> > DateTime Object
> > (
> >     [date] => 2012-09-01 02:43:00
> >     [timezone_type] => 3
> >     [timezone] => America/Chicago
> > )
>
> But instead should always have the tostring pattern in there.
>

I agree and will update.


>
> Also, have you checked whether it shows up when you run serialize on it?
>

The patch I originally wrote did implement wakeup and set state.
 Unfortunately, an accidental git checkout -- in the wrong path gave me the
distinct pleasure of rewriting this.


>
> cheers,
> Derick
>

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