Day After Day we burn it all away

C# : Playing with timespans, and custom calendars

2008-07-15T19:14:00.021+03:00

Recently I had to build an improved "event" calendar, that would mark each day that had an event.

Roughly, the event's chronological data were described with a simple startDate + endDate. So in the end we have a collection of such objects.
The problem was with overlapping dates, and determining if the current "month view" displayed correctly the dates with any event occuring during these days. i.e. If the calendar was showing "August 2008", the view should display all events starting prior / during and/or edning during/after the selected month that have at least 1 day within this month.

I searched and searched over and over for a solution to this problem, however nothing was suitable. I also haven't come across any other .net functionality to suit my purpose with less code [obviously there must be a more clever way than the one I'm going to describe].

Ok enough with the blab-bla. The solution proved to be quite simplistic! [most of the times you try hard to think of a complex problem, while the simple answer stares at you with it's tongue out]

First we have to build a hashtable containing a representation of a selected month's days. We need this for the inherent "key-value" nature of a hashtable. Our key will be the day numeric (1,2,3...29/30/31 depending on the current month of the year) and the value shall be a flag showing if at least an event occurs on that day :

for (int i = 1; i <>

Next, we will iterate our event collection (it can be a recordset, another hashtable, a collection of "event" objects -not event as in programming, event as in "meeting", "party" etc - ) and mark each day accordignly :

- Dcevent is custom class holding an event's data (startDate, endDate)
- eventColl is a collection of Dcevent objects

foreach (Dcevent evt in eventColl)
                {
                    tmpTs = evt.endDate.Subtract(evt.startDate); //subtract the start date from the end date to get a temporary timespan object
                    for (int j = 0; j <= tmpTs.Days; j++) //iterate for the amount of days the timespan represents
                    {
                        tmpDt = evt.startDate.AddDays(j); //start from the event's startDate and add days
                        if (tmpDt.Month == month) //check if the month of the date we have reached is the same as the month we are viewing
                        { //if the specified date is within the month specified
                            if (tmpHt.Contains(tmpDt.Day)) //unnecessary, check if the day is present in our hashtable
                            { //if the specified days exists in the hashtable
                                if (tmpHt[tmpDt.Day].ToString() != "1") //if it hasn't been marked yet
                                {
                                    tmpHt[tmpDt.Day] = "1"; //mark it as active
                                }
                            }
                        }
                    }
                }

In the end we have a hashtable representing all the days of a month [visual representation can be via a calendar], along with additional information that marks them as an "event day".

All we have to do then is iterate through the hashtable and build our html calendar as we like.

A full function listing :

public Hashtable calcActiveDays(int month, int year, Collection eventColl)
{
TimeSpan tmpTs;
Hashtable tmpHt = new Hashtable();
DateTime tmpDt;
//fill up the hashTable with the days in a month
for (int i = 1; i < DateTime.DaysInMonth(year, month); i++)
{
tmpHt.Add(i, "0");
}
if (eventColl != null) //events were found in the first place
{
foreach (Dcevent evt in eventColl)
{
tmpTs = evt.endDate.Subtract(evt.startDate); //may return 0 ???
for (int j = 0; j <= tmpTs.Days; j++)
{
tmpDt = evt.startDate.AddDays(j);
if (tmpDt.Month == month)
{ //if the specified date is within the month specified
if (tmpHt.Contains(tmpDt.Day))
{ //if the specified days exists in the hashtable
if (tmpHt[tmpDt.Day].ToString() != "1")
{ //if it hasn't been marked yet
tmpHt[tmpDt.Day] = "1"; //mark it as active
}
}
}
}
}
}
return tmpHt;
}

As an added bonus here is a function that determines if a given date is within a specified date-range :

public bool isDayIntimeSpan(DateTime startDate, DateTime endDate, DateTime dayToCheck)
{
TimeSpan ts = endDate.Subtract(startDate);
DateTime td;
for (int j = 0; j <= ts.Days; j++)
{
td = startDate.AddDays(j);
if ((td.Day == dayToCheck.Day) && (td.Month == dayToCheck.Month) && (td.Year == dayToCheck.Year))
{
return true;
}
}
return false;
}

You can alter the code and do whatever you want; however this is provided "as-is" with no guarantees whatsoever. For all I know I might have re-invented the wheel ;b

Below you will find a zipped .cs file containing both functions wrapped under an object , released under the GPL licence,

The .zip file : http://www.mediafire.com/?74nknqn5xgn

Cheers!

Inspiration of the human mind

2006-11-14T13:57:00.000+02:00

Just plain amazing ... Attention to detail, and great (midi) music :D

2006-10-20T14:19:00.000+03:00

A quick postie just to share this!

Amazing!

Where the Hell is everybody occupied at?

2006-07-03T12:05:00.000+03:00

More than once lately, I had the same discussion, over and over again :

What do all of those people do for a living ?

Let me explain myself. Lot's of people from the age of 16 - 40 are sitting in cafeterias , with their laid-back, relaxed - "look I'm a millionaire" - style, sipping on tons of fredo's , Frape's , wearing their cool shades, looking sleek; everyday regardless if it's a working day or not. And the most mind-boggling thing about it, is that they do it from 11am-late night ...

So I trouble myself with questions; like :

"How do they make a living ?" ,
"Are they not caring for what happens next?",
"How can they sipp on their drinks, discussing about anything / nothing, and be willing to pay 3-6€ for coffee, and at least > 10€ to eat mediocre food in "trendy" wanabee restaurants ?"

I gather that, most of them are waiting for a good desk job , and preferably in gonvernment positions where they stay for their rest of their lives, while trying to convince a lot of people that they produce labour... Most of them will surely reply angrily, while declining a proposition to work in the fileds collecting oranges, or in construction sites, or in the plumbing business (€€€€), or as electricians...anything that will be hard, and make use of good hands.

I'm definetely not saying that all people are the same, nor am I implying that all young / not young people need/have to work to make a living, but hey... where are we going at? The almost eternal seek for the Holy Grail, renders these people "zamanfoutistas" for life! Surely a sensible person, would prefer any job , at least part-time before he starves to death, or without hesitation turn to his parents for fostering...

If let's say a 50% is working (or pretending to be), then what happens to the other half of the workforce? Ofcourse Greece, and I guess other meditarenean countries, exposes / exports this kind of relaxed behaviour for at least a couple of years now. I'm not confusing it with the style that the tourist organizations use to lure in potential tourists, but rather with the way the look at life straight in the eye (well almost, if their eyelids keep open).

On the other hand I admit that things in the employee-employer front have deteriorated a lot the past years. People come out of every level of education seeking jobs, eventually some of them finding out that the harsh reality of the private sector: "You must do stuff equal to 2-3x the people, and be content with the money you get (usually a little bit above minimum wage)". There is no or little credit for diplomas... or at least this is my view. However , I still believe that once faced with the "live or let to die" dillema, most would choose to fight to stay afloat. Unless everybody is so good at betting their money , or trying to become actors/actresses, singers and football players no matter what the cost...

I dunno, but that really troubles me. But in the end who am I to judge and criticise on everybody's lifestyle ...

Let it be, or let it bleed ?

Back to bat

2005-09-01T17:23:00.000+03:00

Batteries filled up!
Now @ 50% full :)

Flash Slideshow

www.flickr.com

2005-01-31T13:17:00.000+02:00

Concrete Blonde "Under A Mexican Moon",
Can u see the feeling in this? This is it

Oh, amigo
Here we do things slow
Money, art, a broken heart
Where did you want to go
Senor, por favor
To the hotel, zona rosa
What did I come here for

Oh, senor
I run but the damage has been done
Miles have gone away
And my amore he never come

I look up at the sky
I am tired and dry
Uno tecate and lime.
Thinking of you underneath the mexican moonlight
Thinking of you underneath the mexican moon
Thinking of you underneath the mexican moonlight
Thinking of you underneath the mexican moon

Senor, you are wise
I can see a million years
A million tears behind your eyes
Take me home
Take me to the zona rosa
Mariachis and tequila
I will dance the night alone

Just some time
Just a little kiss of mine
Take me where I can forget, senor
You are so very kind

I look up at the sky
I am tired and dry
Dos tecate and lime
Thinking of you underneath the mexican moonlight
Thinking of you underneath the mexican moon
Thinking of you underneath the mexican moonlight
Thinking of you underneath the mexican moon

I look up at the sky
I will try not to cry
Tres tecate and lime
Thinking of you underneath the mexican moonlight
Thinking of you underneath the mexican moon
Thinking of you underneath the mexican moonlight
Thinking of you underneath the mexican moon
Thinking of you underneath the mexican moonlight
Thinking of you underneath the mexican moon
Thinking of you underneath the mexican moonlight
Thinking of you underneath the mexican moon

What's going on ?

2004-12-05T18:35:00.000+02:00

Xmmmm, what is going on...really?

I think I'll have to wait untill this month passes by, to find out...
Untill then, I wish you happy holidays.
Cheers

2004-09-26T14:29:00.000+03:00

Neda Valley, May '04

the Future is here

2004-09-22T13:59:00.000+03:00

Time passes quickly one has to admit. It was only August when I took this picture.

We were just sitting there drinking beers in the marina, discussing about our future plans, of things passed, of things to come.

Well the time has comed and gone, so one of the mates in the pic is off to the U.K. while the other two are contemplating alternative routes hehehe.

So if u ever see one of my friends on the pic, just say hi , I know you from Giorgos ;)

Cheers :)

2004-09-10T23:19:00.000+03:00

Hellinikon Airport @ sundown

Staring at the compose window doesn't help much...

2004-09-10T13:15:00.000+03:00

How does one start-off his own blog? hmmmm.....

What an idea really, to share thoughts and moments of life with someone who is a complete anonymous stranger to you...!

So I guess this is "hello" from me to all of u :)