quarter_time¶ ↑

A simple gem for dealing with quarter logic. I happen to have a project where half the models in the database recur every three months as part of a “quarter” of the year. Within the code, we constantly are asking “what quarter is this for?”, or “show me all the records for this quarter”. Well, now I need the same power on another application, so say hello to “quarter_time”.

(etymology: it’s colloquial in some musical circles to use the phrase “quarter time” to represent the 4/4 time signature, or “three-quarter time” to mean 3/4. Also, it’s a short name for a gem that no one has used yet, I have to admit that did factor into the equation)

1) Install! (or require with whatever dependancy manager you use)

sudo gem install quarter_time

2) Require!

require 'quarter_time'

3) Use!

* find out what quarter a day belongs to:

  Date.parse("3/15/2010").quarter 
  # => 1
  Date.parse("12/12/2010").quarter
  # => 4

* Use an object to represent quarters

  >> quarter = Quarter.new(2010,3)
  => #<Quarter: @quarter=3, @year=2010>

*calculate the next or previous quarter in the logical sequence

  >> quarter.next
  => #<Quarter: @quarter=4, @year=2010>
  >> quarter.next.next
  => #<Quarter: @quarter=1, @year=2011>
  >> quarter.previous
  => #<Quarter: @quarter=2, @year=2010>

*get the boundary dates of any given quarter

  >> quarter.start_date.to_s
  => "2010-07-01"
  >> quarter.end_date.to_s
  => "2010-09-30"

*get a string representation of the quarter, good for interpolating into emails and such

  >> quarter.quarter_stamp
  => "Q3, 2010"

*include a scope for easy finding, plus several quarter methods into your ActiveRecord models that have year and quarter fields!

  class SomeModel < ActiveRecord::Base
    include QuarterTime::QuarterDriven
  end

  q = Quarter.new(2010,2)
  model = SomeModel.for_quarter(q).first
  model.quarter_obj
    =>  #<Quarter: @quarter=2, @year=2010>
  model.start_date.to_s
    => "2010-03-01"
  model.quarter_stamp
    => "Q2, 2010"

*you can also just use the scope with year and quarter parameters if you don't already have a quarter object

  class SomeModel < ActiveRecord::Base
    include QuarterTime::QuarterDriven
  end

  model = SomeModel.for_quarter(2010,3).first

• Fork the project.

• Make your feature addition or bug fix.

• Add tests for it. This is important so I don’t break it in a future version unintentionally.

• Commit, do not mess with rakefile, version, or history. (if you want to have your own version, that is fine but bump version in a commit by itself I can ignore when I pull)

• Send me a pull request. Bonus points for topic branches.

Copyright © 2010 evizitei. See LICENSE for details.