How to Combine Separate Date Time Strings from Bravo Studio

In Xano's Bravo Studio, the date and time inputs are separate fields. However, there may be cases where you need to combine these inputs into a single timestamp value before storing it in your database. This blog post will guide you through the process of combining date and time inputs using Xano's powerful Function Stack.

Step 1: Extract the Time from the Date-Time String

The time input in Bravo Studio is a date-time string that includes the current date along with the time. To extract just the time portion, you can use the format_timestamp filter in the Function Stack.

format_timestamp('H:i', $time_input)

Here, 'H:i' is the format string that specifies how the time should be displayed. In this case, it will show the time in 24-hour format with leading zeros for the hour and minutes (e.g., 15:30).

You can find a comprehensive list of format characters in Xano's Date and Time documentation.

Step 2: Extract the Date from the Date-Time String

Similar to the time input, you can use the format_timestamp filter to extract the date portion from the date input.

format_timestamp('d M Y', $date_input)

This format string will display the date in the format "day month year" (e.g., 25 Sep 2022).

Step 3: Combine the Date and Time

Once you have the date and time isolated, you can combine them using string concatenation.

$combined_datetime = $formatted_date . ' ' . $formatted_time

This will create a string that looks like "25 Sep 2022 15:30".

Step 4: Parse the Combined String into a Unix Timestamp

To store the combined date-time value in your database, you'll need to parse it into a Unix timestamp format. You can achieve this using the parse_timestamp filter.

parse_timestamp('d M Y H:i', $combined_datetime)

Here, the format string matches the combined date-time string you created in the previous step.

Step 5: Store the Timestamp in Your Database

Finally, you can store the parsed timestamp in a field in your database. Xano will automatically handle the time zone conversion and store the value in UTC format.

$record = [
 'parsed_timestamp' => parse_timestamp('d M Y H:i', $combined_datetime)
];
insert_entry('your_collection', $record);

Replace 'your_collection' with the name of your collection in Xano.

With these steps, you can seamlessly combine date and time inputs in Bravo Studio and store them as a single timestamp value in your Xano database. Remember, Xano's Function Stack is Turing-complete, allowing you to manipulate data in any way you need to meet your application's requirements.