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Localization for Date Format

1 Initial Problem

Generic problems:

1. Currently, only few date formats are localized. That is, the individual date-format setting of the calendar is not respected by most of ILIAS. Instead ILIAS uses its own hard-coded format "DD. MMM YYYY" (e.g. 06. Oct 2016), which looks very weird in many regions - especially on certificates.
2. The default date-format setting for new accounts is "DD.MM.YYYY" which is ok for Germany but apparently not for other regions. This default can not be changed.
3. The date-format setting of a user can only be changed by the user or XML-Import, but not by administrators via GUI.

Specific problems for Japan:

• Date format in Japanese “yyyy-mm-dd” is commonly used.
• "dd/mm/yy" causes confusion because they often feel like "yy/mm/dd"

General priorities of affected views:

• certificates > learner views > admin views

2 Conceptual Summary

• date-formats in certificates of courses, tests and learning modules will respect the calendar localization setting of the user
• the default date-format for new ILIAS account will be the international ISO-standardized date-format YYYY-MM-DD. System administrators can change the default date, possibly even early during setup.
• optional: administrators can change the date-format for existing users
• optional new guideline: user facing date-formats should respect the calendar setting

Technical Detail: There should be a static method in the calender service to convert dates according to the current user's setting. This can then be used by other ILIAS components. See the discussion here. Important question: Does it make sense to be able to specify another user? E.g. with mails and background tasks there could be a need to differentiate current user vs. some recipient. However it may be tricky to optimize the performance of repetitive calls to this function if the targeted recipient is not the current user.

3 User Interface Modifications

3.1 List of Affected Views

• modified: Personal Settings
  • rename: Date Input Format (Please choose a format for the input of dates.) -> Date Format (Please choose a format for the input and presentation of dates.)
• modified: certificates of courses, tests and learning modules
• modified: Administration > User Management > Settings > Standard Fields
  • new entry: Date Format (with standard valued, which defaults to YYYY-MM-DD)
• modified: Administration > User Management > [Some User]
  • new entry: Date Format
• modified: [Some Category] > Local User Management > [Some User]
  • new entry: Date Format (if enabled for local administration)

3.2 User Interface Details

everything else is already explained in the list of affected views.

3.3 New User Interface Concepts

None

4 Technical Information

{The maintainer has to provide necessary technical information, e.g. dependencies on other ILIAS components, necessary modifications in general services/architecture, potential security or performance issues.}

5 Contact

• Author of the Request: initiated by Tamoto, Shiro [tamoto], extended by Kiegel, Colin [kiegel]
• Maintainer: {Please add your name before applying for an initial workshop or a Jour Fixe meeting.}
• Implementation of the feature is done by: {The maintainer must add the name of the implementing developer.}

6 Funding

If you are interest in funding this feature, please add your name and institution to this list.

• ...

7 Discussion

Dániel, Kiss-Kálmán [KissDani] 2016-03-31:

We use the 'yyyy-mm-dd' format, just as you in Japan. To tell the truth I don't believe if anyone in my country is interested in funding ;(
So I did some php modification in my installation (I know, I know it is far not the best, I'm clear with it's disadvantages):
--------------------
Services/Calendar/classes/class.ilDatePresentation.php
~ line 150:
------------
include_once('./Services/Calendar/classes/class.ilCalendarUtil.php');
/* old $date_str = $date->get(IL_CAL_FKT_DATE,'d').'. '.
ilCalendarUtil::_numericMonthToString($date_info['mon'],false).' '.
$date_info['year'];*/
$date_str = $date_info['year'].'. '.
ilCalendarUtil::_numericMonthToString($date_info['mon'],false).' '.
$date->get(IL_CAL_FKT_DATE,'d');
--------------------
Services/Utilities/classes/class.ilUtils.php
~ line 999:
------------
/* old $dateformat = "d-m-Y";*/
$dateformat = "Y-m-d";
---------------------------
These 2 modifications solve all the 5 pages (and many others).

Calendar is a far different story.
You need to modify Services/Calendar/classes/class.ilCalendarSOMETHINGGUI.php files.
---------------------------------
If you are looking for a user-dependent solution, take look at line 367 in class.ilCalendarMonthGUI.php
switch($this->user_settings->getTimeFormat()....

You can do something like that, but use getDateFormat()
-------------------------

Without doubt an official solution would be far better, hope it comes a day ;)
Regards, Daniel

Neumann, Fred [fneumann], November 10, 2016:
That could be part of a broader Internationalisation support. It would help to look for examples or libraries from other development frameworks that can be re-used.

8 Implementation

{The maintainer has to give a description of the final implementation and add screenshots if possible.}

Test Cases

Test cases completed at {date} by {user}

• {Test case number linked to Testrail} : {test case title}

Approval

Approved at {date} by {user}.