12 Hour Time

RoR comes with many fantastic helpers for the view. However, there is one helper that is definitely lacking some features. Perhaps it is purposely missing features because of its complexity and range of customization. What I'm referring to is the DateHelper.

Firstly, when selecting a date, having selects as inputs just outright sucks! It's very hard for the user to visualize such a layout. We are used to seeing calendars. In what real world situation do you ever look at dates in a select box format... none that I can think of. But calendars, that's another story. Calendars are so normal to users that without them, we're lost! Unfortunately, RoR does not come prepackaged with a calendar format for dates. But luckily, RoR is extendable through plugins! We're currently testing out which one works best for us, and we'll let you know when we've come to a decision.

The second problem with the prepackaged helper is the fact that when selecting times, we're forced to take the inputs based on a 24 hour clock... EWWW!!! No body works on a 24 hour clock (except if you're in the military...) The usual person just isn't used to seeing a 24 hour clock. That's where plugins come in again!

I found a plugin that worked very well and required very little modifications:

12_hour_time

This plugin allows you to add an option to your current time selects to make them based on a 12 hour clock:

:twelve_hour => true

The rest (frontend and backend) are automatically handled for you!

Brilliant!


W