GetDate XObject for Mac

Detects the date regardless of local date settings

The GetDate XObject allows you to detect the current date in a standard format that does not depend on the user's local date format settings. This is useful when you must deliver a Director piece that can be used with different languages and countries. Director's built-in date features return different results with different countries or date format settings.

GetDate returns an integer in the format YYYYMMDD (i.e., 19971225 for Christmas this year). This format is known as the ANSI date, and can be meaningfully compared to previous or future dates numerically, with Lingo's '<' or '>' operators.

The GetDate XObject for the Mac is freeware, and was written to exactly match the syntax of Tab Julius' freeware GetDate XObject for Windows (see the Penworks site for that). Penworks also has another date utility Xtra which can report elapsed time between any two dates, and has other useful features.

The GetDate XObject for the Mac is also distributed for free by g/matter, inc. (formerly known as 'gray matter design') in San Francisco.

Since GetDate was created, Darryl Plant of Moshofsky/Plant Creative Services has published a Lingo-only solution for getting international date information within Director. This is useful from Shockwave Director movies, because there's no need for the user to download an XObject for their browser plug-in support folder. The Lingo scripting looks like this...

To derive the year: "set aYear = the year of internationalDate ()"
To derive the month: "set aMonth = the month of internationalDate ()"
To derive the day: "set aDay = the day of internationalDate ()"

on internationalDate
  set IDate = [:]
  set aDate = the short date
  set dateLength = the number of chars of aDate
  set sDate = []
  set aNum = ""
  repeat with i = 1 to dateLength
    set aChar = char i of aDate
    set aSCII = charToNum (aChar)
    if (aSCII < 48) or (aSCII > 57) then
      if aNum = "" then nothing
      else
        add sDate, (value (aNum) mod 100)
        set aNum = ""
      end if
    else
      set aNum = aNum & aChar
      if i = dateLength then add sDate, (value (aNum) mod 100)
    end if
  end repeat
  set aDate = the abbreviated date
  set dateLength = the length of aDate
  set abbDate = []
  set aNum = ""
  repeat with i = 1 to dateLength
    set aChar = char i of aDate
    set aSCII = charToNum (aChar)
    if (aSCII < 48) or (aSCII > 57) then
      if aNum = "" then nothing
      else
        add abbDate, (value (aNum) mod 100)
        set aNum = ""
      end if
    else
      set aNum = aNum & aChar
      if i = dateLength then add abbDate, (value (aNum) mod 100)
    end if
  end repeat
  set year = getAt (abbDate, 2)
  set day = getAt (abbDate, 1)
  set whereYear = getOne (sDate, year)
  addProp IDate, #year, value (year)
  deleteAt sDate, whereYear
  set whereDay = getOne (sDate, day)
  addProp IDate, #day, value (day)
  deleteAt sDate, whereDay
  addProp IDate, #month, value (getAt (sDate, 1))
  return Idate
end

The GetDate XObject is still useful if you've already coded a project with the Windows GetDate XObject and want a quick Macintosh port. The XObject solution is also pretty well tested at this point and speaks directly to the underlying operating systems APIs, without depending on the implementation of Director's Lingo date functions. And you can't argue with the price!

A demo movie is enclosed with the GetDate XObject which demonstrates the use of the plug-in. The demo movie is in Director 4 format, but can be opened and used without modification in Director 5. The demo movie contains a script castmember with cut-n-paste Lingo handlers, to get you up and running immediately.

I'd appreciate a note from you if you pick up a copy of GetDate here. I'll keep you informed of updates. Email me at gpicher@maine.com.

Download the Mac GetDate XObject (.sit.hqx)

The .sit.hqx format is standard for Mac shareware distribution, and can be decompressed with Stuffit Expander for the Mac. You should be able to download this Mac XObject even using a PC (decompressing the .hqx or .sit file on a Mac).

Glenn M. Picher: Dirigo Multimedia
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