[Tutorial] Sort by a user defined date

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[Mark]

The major limitation in sorting by a user defined date until this point has been that MODx does not store date TV's in UNIXTIME (it stores them in MySQL Timestamps). I found a simple and clever workaround that maintains backawards compatibility. Just create a widget that takes whatever value in the database (can even be a text field), and turn it into a UNIXTIME stamp that Ditto can use to sort. You now have the ability to enter dates both in text format or using the date chooser. The UNIXTIME Widget has been included in MODx 0.9.5 and later. Then, just append &sortBy=`tvnameofyourtemplatevariable` to your Ditto call and you are done!

[yentsun]

Thanks for your work Mark! But unfortunately this only make a UNIXTIME output for a tv, still Ditto isn't sorting by it
Look what I have:
the call

Code:

[!Ditto? &startID=`17` &sortBy=`tvdate` &sortDir=`ASC` &tpl=`ditto_works` &summarize=`5`!]

output with data formatter widget:

Веб-сайт компании «Венте» («Ватель-Фестен») (Tuesday 27, December 2005)
Веб-сайт компании «Примавель» (Thursday 30, March 2006)
Веб-сайт компании «Astelcom» (Wednesday 15, March 2006)
Дизайн веб-сайта компании «FastHelix» (Monday 28, November 2005)

and output with the unixtime widget:

Веб-сайт компании «Венте» («Ватель-Фестен») (1135640114)
Веб-сайт компании «Примавель» (1143671995)
Веб-сайт компании «Astelcom» (1142379790)
Дизайн веб-сайта компании «FastHelix» (1133134700)

the order keeps the same - by createdon.

[Mark]

And you are using Ditto 1.0.2 right?

[protocol0]

i am using 1.02 and this doesn't work for me either.

instead of your approach, I hacked the date formatter to use the php date() function instead of strfrmtime or whatever it is.  Using 'U' as the parameter, so the end result is the same.  when you output the TVs there are in unixtime.

Code:

[[Ditto? &tpl=`EventsMoreEvents` &startID=`41` &truncLen=`30` &displayArchive=`0` &summarize=`10` &paginate=`1` &sortBy=`tvGGEShowDate1`]]

that's my ditto call.  but sadly, no sorting.

[protocol0]

hi,

changing

Code:

if ($advSort == $sortBy){
$ditto->customSort($resource, $advSort, $sortDir);
}

to

Code:

$ditto->customSort($resource, $advSort, $sortDir);

gets it working!  at this point I know enough about your code to really start breaking things.    but not enough to find the real source of the bug.  i do know however, that this code:

Code:

$sortBy = isset($sortBy) ? $ditto->checkSort($sortBy, $dateFormatType, $mode) : "createdon";
    // get sortBy

sets $sortBy to "id", when before this validation routine its the name of the template variable.  is this right?

thanks mark!  i'm content with my ugly hack for now but I'd sure like to help you with the real solution.

[byword]

Hi Mark
I tried your solution but alas it still is ordered by ID, it returns a timestamp like this (1060235247) - I also tried protocol0's hack - the debug mode had listed it as (sortBy): pub_date, when I set it to pub_date - but it didn't actually follow the order properly.

Has anyone else found a way of sorting the Ditto list or have I missed something

I have missed something - I didn't format the date correctly - I used the calendar module and it all worked fine!

Thanks
by

[mediced]

Hmm.  Well, I haven't tried any of the hacks above, but the reason for that is that (besides not knowing how to add a widget) shifting the date widget to a unix time means that I'll be trading a sorting problem for a display problem.  I need my dates displaying in a "November 08, 2006" format at the same time as sorting on that date.

Is there a way to do this?

[lw-d]

I too would like to sort my news by publish date, I am not sure what a widget is in relation to modx, could you help us out here.

Thanks
Lee

[Mark]

@mediced

Use a snippet like DateFormat


@lw-d


A widget is used to format the output of a tv

[dhilden]

Good morning Modx users,

Modx-0.9.5, Ditto 2.0.0, Reflect 1.0.0

I have a weekly newsletter that gets sent out. The menu/page of Biz Flash looks like this with multiple ditto calls:

Biz Flash page (2)
   [!Ditto? &startID=`3` &tpl=`DittoTemplate`!]
   Apples (3)   
         News1 (6)
         News2 (7)
   [!Ditto? &startID=`4` &tpl=`DittoTemplate`!]
   Oranges (4)
         News1 (8 )
         News2 (9)
   [!Ditto? &startID=`5` &tpl=`DittoTemplate`!]
   Bananas (5)
         News1 (10)
         News2 (11)
   Etc….

The newsletter gets sent out every Friday so the goal is to keep the news from Friday-Friday showing on this page.  Stories from the previous week and before would be stored in archives by reflect. 

I’m wondering if there’s a solution that can be found by using the date filter, TVs, &sortby=published_on in last 7 days,  or something along those lines…

Anyone have a suggestion?  Imagine there are a few people that may have come across this situation.

Have a good day, and thanks in advance

Derek

[Mark]

You can sortBy publishedon and then use a filter that compares the publishedon value to an @EVAL that returns the time - 7 days.
Your filter would look like &filter=`publishedon,@EVAL return strtotime("-1 week");,6`

[dhilden]

Thanks for the advice! I have spent a couple of days trying to figure this out and it's getting messy...

(updated to Ditto 2.0.1)
First I created the following TV:
name: [*dittoSort*]
input type: Date
Input Option Values: @EVAL return strtotime("-1 week");,6`
widget: unixtime
sortorder: 0
connected it to the necessary templates

and on the template page have the following call:
[!Ditto? &parents=`2` &display=`all` &tpl=`DittoTemplate` &dateSource=`pub_date` &sortBy=`pub_date` &depth=`2` &hideFolders=`1` &filter=`publishedon,@EVAL return strtotime("-1 week");,6`!]

[!Reflect? &parents=`2` &tpl=`DittoTemplate` &dateSource=`pub_date` &display=`all` &depth=`2` &sortBy=`pub_date` &getDocuments=`1`!]

and the TV selector at the bottom of the page says dittoSort: (not set)

So I have tried many different options and this is what I have at the moment.   If leave out the ditto call: &filter=`publishedon,@EVAL return strtotime("-1 week");,6` the news gets sorted properly.  If I put in this ditto call it returns only 5 news stories from what seems random dates.  Reflect is also not working but I'm focussed on getting ditto to work first.

Running around in circles... how can I get Ditto to display news from the last seven days and the articles older than 7 days get stored in archive by reflect?

Really would like to get something working.  Have a nice day

Derek

[lukwe]

I am sorting on a TV date already; and I'd like to create a calendar with DittoCal based on that date too.

is Ditto's json output aware of the dateSource thing?
it seems to output the same exact values for the "date": part inside each one of the json 'entries', with and without the $datesource parameter (and related orderBy) in the Ditto call.



CIAO

[Mark]

JSON does not currently handle dateSource. This feature is currently planned. You can use a custom JSON template in the meantime.

[annet_1409]

The major limitation in sorting by a user defined date until this point has been that MODx does not store date TV's in UNIXTIME (it stores them in MySQL Timestamps). I found a simple and clever workaround that maintains backawards compatibility. Just create a widget that takes whatever value in the database (can even be a text field), and turn it into a UNIXTIME stamp that Ditto can use to sort. You now have the ability to enter dates both in text format or using the date chooser. The UNIXTIME Widget has been included in MODx 0.9.5 and later. Then, just append &sortBy=`tvnameofyourtemplatevariable` to your Ditto call and you are done!

Hello,
I want to sort Ditto output by a user defined date (TV with unixtime widget), but if user forgot to set up this TV, I want to use createdon value instead.
Can you help me?