Extension:AgeParse

Template:Extension The AgeParse extension calculates the number of years, months, and days between two dates (FROM and TO attributes). The extension does not use any PHP built-in functions so it can calculate an answer for dates before 1970 or after 2038. The purpose of this extension is to automatically calculate the difference between two dates. It is useful in historical or genealogical research sites since the author only needs to know the two dates and how they want to show that information; the tag automatically calculates the difference. A global setting also allows FROM or TO (only one) to be optional, automatically using the current date (from the web site's server) for the missing date.

Usage

Only the FROM and TO attributes are (usually) required. All other attributes are optional. The age tag is used in-line with text on the page so the calculated age becomes part of the sentence, list, etc.

Syntax

{{#age: from=yyyy-mm-dd | to=yyyy-mm-dd | format-ymd | left=c | right=c | errbox=yes | zeronegatives=yes}}

Attributes

Of the attributes below FROM and TO are required if $wgAgeDefaultToday is FALSE; otherwise, these attributes are optional. All other attributes are optional.

from=YYYY-MM-DD

• ISO formatted starting date
• Only optional if $wgAgeDefaultToday = TRUE

to=YYYY-MM-DD

• ISO formatted ending date
• Only optional if $wgAgeDefaultToday = TRUE

left=C

• Optional text to prepend (add to left) of answer
• Most commonly "(" to enclose answer in parenthesis

right=C

• Optional text to append (add to right) of answer
• Most commonly ")" to enclose answer in parenthesis

format=ymd | format=ym | format=y

• Controls how much of answer to show
  • ymd = X years, Y months, Z days
  • ym = X years, Y months (days are not shown)
  • y = X years (months and days are not shown
• Defaults to "ymd"

errbox=yes | errbox=no

• Controls whether error box appears (if, of course, there is an error)
• Overrides $wgAgeErrorBox

zeronegatives=yes | zeronegatives=no

• Controls whether negative date-differences are rendered as '0 days' or whether an error is displayed instead.
• This is useful when omitting FROM (which defaults to 'today') and setting an expiry date using TO.
• After the expiry date the difference will show as '0 days'. Basically a days-countdown with a '0 days' floor.
• Overrides $wgAgeZeroNegatives

Examples

{{#age: from=1368-01-01 | to=1644-01-01 |format=y}}
{{#age: from=1606-07-15 | to=1669-10-04 |left=( |right=)}}

Download instructions

Copy and paste the code found below and place them in files called $IP/extensions/AgeParse/AgeParse.php and $IP/extensions/AgeParse/AgeParse.body.php. Note: Template:Ll stands for the root directory of your MediaWiki installation, the same directory that holds Template:Ll.

Copy and paste the language code found below and place it in a file called $IP/extensions/AgeParse/AgeParse.i18n.php.

• Newest Version from git at: https://github.com/DaSchTour/AgeParse
• Version 0.3: https://github.com/DaSchTour/AgeParse/zipball/v0.3

Installation

To install this extension, add the following to Template:Ll:

require_once( "$IP/extensions/AgeParse/AgeParse.php" );
$wgAgeErrorBox      = true;  //true: show box if arguments/calculation cause error
$wgAgeDefaultToday  = true;  //true: FROM or TO default to current date if not provided
$wgAgeZeroNegatives = true;  //true: show '0 days' if calculated value is negative

Configuration parameters

The following settings can be added to Template:Ll:

$wgAgeDefaultToday = FALSE;

• TRUE = automatically use current date if either FROM or TO attributes are not specified
  • Set this value then include FROM value in tag to calculate time between that date and the current date
  • Set this value then include TO value in tag to calculate time between current date and a future date (like a count down)
• FALSE = FROM and TO values are required but will not default to the current date
• Not set in LocalSettings.php defaults to FALSE

$wgAgeErrorBox = TRUE;

• TRUE = show any errors using the 'errorbox' CSS format (usually a red box)
• FALSE = show errors in-line with the page content
• Not set in LocalSettings.php defaults to FALSE
• This site-wide setting can be overridden using the 'errbox' attribute

$wgAgeZeroNegatives = FALSE;

• TRUE = display '0 days' when the time difference is negative
• FALSE = negative time difference will display an error
• Not set in LocalSettings.php defaults to FALSE

See also

• DateDiff extension