How do I allow my model to accept two different date formats? - date

Question

I'm using Ruby on Rails 5. I have the following code in my model ...
class User < ActiveRecord::Base
...
attr_accessor :dob_string
def dob_string
#dob_string || (self.dob ? self.dob.strftime('%m/%d/%Y') : "")
end
def dob_string=(dob_s)
date = dob_s && !dob_s.empty? ? Date.strptime(dob_s, '%m/%d/%Y') : nil
self.dob = date
rescue ArgumentError
errors.add(:dob, 'The birth date is not in the correct format (MM/DD/YYYY)')
#dob_string = dob_s
end
Despite my instructions, sometimes users enter the date in the form MM-DD-YYYY. So what I want to do is allow my model to accept both formats, MM/DD/YYYY or MM-DD-YYYY, but not mixed, that is MM/DD-YYYY shoud still be illegal. How do I modify my model so that it can accept either format?

Answer 1

I think this might do what you need:
class User < ActiveRecord::Base
def dob_string
#dob_string || (dob ? dob.strftime("%m/%d/%Y") : "")
end
def dob_string=(dob_s)
unless convert_preferred_date(dob_s) || convert_acceptable_date(dob_s)
errors.add(:dob, 'The birth date is not in the correct format (MM/DD/YYYY)')
#dob_string = dob_s
end
end
private
def convert_preferred_date(dob_s)
convert_date(dob_s, "%m/%d/%Y")
end
def convert_acceptable_date(dob_s)
convert_date(dob_s, "%m-%d-%Y")
end
def convert_date(dob_s, format)
self.dob = (dob_s && !dob_s.empty? ? Date.strptime(dob_s, format) : nil)
rescue ArgumentError
nil
end
end
It's a little inelegant, but I can't think of a way to do only two date formats. If you're prepared to accept any human-readable data format, there's a much simpler way to do this.
Please test this thoroughly in your own app. I was just messing around with this in the Rails console, and I might not have tested every case. Hopefully this helps.