∟The "Date" Object Type - Managing Dates and Times
This section provides a quick description and a tutorial example script on the 'Date' built-in object type, which is used to create 'Date' objects.
The "Date" object type is a built-in object type to be used to create a "Date" object, representing a moment in time.
It has the following main features:
New "Date" objects can be created with the "Date()" constructor. Note that "Date()" is also a regular function,
which returns a string representation of a date.
All "Date objects have several inherited methods: toString(), valueOf(), setDate(), getDate(), etc..
The "Date" constructor offers its own methods: Date.parse(), Date.UTC(), etc..
Here is a tutorial example script showing some of the those features:
// Date_Object_Type.html
// Copyright (c) 2008 by Dr. Herong Yang, http://www.herongyang.com/
// Creating a new Date object
var myObject = new Date(2008, 0, 1, 2, 3, 4);
// Checking this object
println("\nAbout this \"myObject\":");
println(" Type = "+(typeof myObject));
println(" Instance Of Object: "+(myObject instanceof Object));
println(" Instance Of Date: "+(myObject instanceof Date));
// Using Number's inherited methods
var v = myObject.valueOf();
var s = myObject.toString();
var h = myObject.getHours();
println("\nExecution result:");
println(" typeof myObject = "+(typeof myObject));
println(" typeof myObject.valueOf() = "+(typeof v));
println(" typeof myObject.toString() = "+(typeof s));
println(" typeof myObject.getHours(() = "+(typeof h));
println(" value of myObject.valueOf() = "+v);
println(" value of myObject.toString() = "+s);
println(" value of myObject.toString() = "+h);
println("\nUsing methods of the Date constructor:");
var myTime = Date.parse("Tue Jan 01 2008");
var myDate = new Date(myTime);
println(" typeof myTime = "+(typeof myTime));
println(" typeof myDate = "+(typeof myDate));
println(" myTime = "+myTime);
println(" myDate.toString() = "+myDate.toString());
If you run this script with "jrunscript", you will get:
About this "myObject":
Type = object
Instance Of Object: true
Instance Of Date: true
Execution result:
typeof myObject = object
typeof myObject.valueOf() = number
typeof myObject.toString() = string
typeof myObject.getHours(() = number
value of myObject.valueOf() = 1199170984000
value of myObject.toString() = Tue Jan 01 2008 02:03:04 GMT-0000
value of myObject.toString() = 2
Using methods of the Date constructor:
typeof myTime = number
typeof myDate = object
myTime = 1199163600000
myDate.toString() = Tue Jan 01 2008 00:00:00 GMT-0000
Now we know how to create "Date" objects with the "Date()" constructor.
Read other "Date" related chapters to see more tutorial examples.
