Zend_Date is really a time saver class, I use it in almost every project I work, It handles time_zones, and date formatting pretty easy, leaving me more time to focus on other things.

The files that I need to use Zend_Date as a standalone class are:

Date.php and the Date folder from the Zend distribution package, and this is how I use it:

  1. <?php
  3. set_include_path('./lib' . PATH_SEPARATOR . get_include_path());
  4. include_once 'Zend/Date.php';
  5. $tugId = isset($_GET['tugId']) ? (int) $_GET['tugId'] : false;
  7. function formatDate($date) {
  8.     /**
  9.      * List of supported timezones
  10.      * http://php.net/manual/en/timezones.php
  11.      */
  12.     if ($date) {
  13.         $fmtDate = new Zend_Date($date, Zend_Date::ISO_8601);
  14.         $fmtDate->setTimezone('America/Los_Angeles');
  15.         return $fmtDate->toString(Zend_Date::DATETIME);
  16.     } else {
  17.         return '';
  18.     }
  19. }
  21. if (is_int($tugId)) {
  22.  $sql = 'SELECT modified_date FROM tuggler WHERE tug_id = ' . $tugId;
  23.  $result = $db->fetchAssoc($sql);
  24.  $response = 'Last Record Update: '.formatDate($row['modified_date']) .'';
  25. } else {
  26.  $response "nothing to return";
  27. }
  29. echo $response;

The response from the above would be Jul 9, 2009 11:41:20 AM but I can easily change it using one of the predefined constants, or I can make my own format.