@Peter,

Thanks for that. Unfortunately the parameters do not set the start_date_time and end_date_time.

Just start_time and end_time.

Think of it this way:

How would you implement for an application that only allows the users to log in ONLY from 1800 to 0600?

If the user tries to log in any other time of the day the system should lock him/her out.





On Thu, May 2, 2013 at 10:49 AM, Peter Karunyu <pkarunyu@gmail.com> wrote:
@Adam and @Lawi, as a way of procrastinating working, I also tried using PHP:

<?php
    //this assumes that the start time is the same every day, i.e. every day at 0600Hrs, the output below is e.g. 2013-05-02 06:00
    $start_day_time = date('Y-m-d 06:00');
    $start_day_time_timestamp = strtotime($start_day_time);
    echo "Start time: $start_day_time. Timestamp: $start_day_time_timestamp <br/>";

    //this assumes that the end date is the same every day, i.e. every day at 1800Hrs, the output below is e.g. 2013-05-02 18:00
    $end_day_time = date('Y-m-d 18:00');
    $end_day_time_timestamp = strtotime($end_day_time);
    $end_day_time_timestamp = mktime(0, 0, 0, date("m")  , date("d")+2, date("Y"));
    echo "End time: $end_day_time. Timestamp: $end_day_time_timestamp <br/>";

    /*
    What if the end time is 2 days from today, at 1800Hrs?
    $end_day_time_timestamp = mktime(0, 0, 0, date("m")  , date("d")+2, date("Y"));
    */

    //so what is the timestamp now?
    $now_timestamp = strtotime("now");
    echo "Now: $now_timestamp <br/><br/><br/>";

    //based on the start and end timestamps, are we allowed to run now?
    if ($now_timestamp >= $start_day_time_timestamp AND $now_timestamp <= $end_day_time_timestamp) {
        echo 'Yay! It can run!';
    }
    else {
        echo 'Nope! No run.';
    }
?>



On Thu, May 2, 2013 at 10:46 AM, Adam Nelson <adam@varud.com> wrote:
@francis I think he's using the word 'timestamp' loosely as the time of day.  But yes, as everyone agrees so far, just use the timestamp which has all the date information and then comparison is trivial.

Since we all seem to be having fun wasting time on a Thursday, I did it in Python for demonstration purposes.  I set 'a' to now and then 'b' to now a few seconds later and then arbitrarily set 'c' to a time within the period.  This is date-sensitive.

----------------
➜  ~  python     
Python 2.7.3 (default, Dec  5 2012, 11:30:37) 
[GCC 4.2.1 Compatible Apple Clang 4.1 ((tags/Apple/clang-421.11.66))] on darwin
Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
>>> import datetime
>>> a = datetime.datetime.now()
>>> a
datetime.datetime(2013, 5, 2, 10, 42, 36, 877059)
>>> b = datetime.datetime.now()
>>> b
datetime.datetime(2013, 5, 2, 10, 42, 50, 684714)
>>> c = datetime.datetime(2013, 5, 2, 10, 42, 49, 000000)
>>> c
datetime.datetime(2013, 5, 2, 10, 42, 49)
>>> bool(a <= b < c)
False
>>> bool(a <= c < b)
True
>>> 
-------------------



On Thu, May 2, 2013 at 9:37 AM, Francis Njenga <korefn@gmail.com> wrote:
A timestamp will have all these details and you can extract the relevant details from it.
I.e. datetime has both date and time. You can use the time or date where relevant.
This is the essence of a timestamp.


On Thu, May 2, 2013 at 10:31 AM, Peter Karunyu <pkarunyu@gmail.com> wrote:
@Lawi, does the start times change per day or are they sorta fixed at a preset time?

Say, every day at 0600Hrs is the start, and every day at 1800Hrs is the end

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--
Kore Francis Njenga
Running and Walking are only breaths apart.

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--
Regards,
Peter Karunyu
-------------------

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