building a calendar using only System.currentTimeMillis

[brian watkins]

In this project i am only allowed to use System.currentTimeMillis(). No java methods that come with java related to dates, times, calendars, etc. I have got it to show the current day, week, month, year, the day of the week, and the time down to the second. Now i need to build something like this


                                                       
            September
            ---------

Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat
 1  2  3
 4  5  6  7  8  9 10
11 12 13 14 15 16 17
18 19 20 21 22 23 24
25 26 27 28 *29* 30

Any help on this would be helpful i can provide the code if need be but I am just really looking for some direction on how to go about starting it.

[Junilu Lacar]

Interesting problem. The first thing you should know is that per the API docs, currentTimeMillis() is "the difference, measured in milliseconds, between the current time and midnight, January 1, 1970 UTC."  You'd have to base all your calculations on this and what you already know about converting milliseconds to seconds, minutes, hours, days, months, and years. You'll also need to factor in the rules for determining leap years.

[brian watkins]

Yes, I have all the calculations down already. I just need to know how to convert Friday, October 14, 2016 into the calendar type above. I have no idea where to begin.

[Jeanne Boyarsky]

You said you know what day of the week, Sept 14th is, right? That means you can figure out what day of the week the first of the month is. (That's just subtracting 1 or 7 until you get there).

From there, you can make the calendar as long as you know what date the month ends. For Sept that is easy because it doesn't change. For February, there are leap year rules you can code.

[Junilu Lacar]

BTW, Welcome to the Ranch!

[Norm Radder]

how to convert Friday, October 14, 2016 into the calendar type

Can you explain what data types you are talking about? For example is the data to be converted a String: "Friday, October 14, 2016"?
What is  "the calendar type"

[brian watkins]

This is what i have to build


Invoking System.currentTimeMillis() returns a long integer giving the elapsed time in milliseconds since midnight of January 1, 1970.  The value returned is based on UTC time, which is 5 hours ahead of Central Daylight Time.  Using the value returned by System.currentTimeMillis(), compute the current date and time, adjusting for Central Daylight Time and truncating to the second.  

You can use any operators or any methods of the Math class, but do NOT call any methods that come with Java related to dates, times, calendars, etc. other than System.currentTimeMillis().  You may wish to use the long data type for all integer variables (otherwise be careful to use int only when you are sure the values will fit), and note that literal numeric values can be designated as long by appending an L, i.e., 5L is a long but 5 is an int.  Your computations will need to take leap years into account.  A leap year is any year that:
a.  is divisible by 400, OR
b.  is divisible by 4 but not divisible by 100

Display the current date and time in the following format.

Current date and time is September 29, 2016 at 10:10:01 am.

Next, using the fact that January 1, 1970 was a Thursday, compute the current day of the week.  (Hint: For the computations, represent Sunday as 0, Monday as 1, …, Saturday as 6.)  Do NOT use Zeller’s congruence (if you have heard of it) or call any methods that come with Java related to dates, times, calendars, etc. Then modify the above output format so that the new output format becomes:

Current date and time is Thursday, September 29, 2016 at 10:10:01 am.


Next, using the values you have computed for the current date and day of the week, compute the day of the week for the first day of the current month.  Then write one or more loops that display a calendar for the current month in the following format with the leftmost column representing Sunday.  (By coincidence, I ran my program on a Thursday and the first day of September was also a Thursday.)  Do NOT call any methods that come with Java related to dates, times, calendars, etc.

Current date and time is Thursday, September 29, 2016 at 10:10:01 am.

 1  2  3
 4  5  6  7  8  9 10
11 12 13 14 15 16 17
18 19 20 21 22 23 24
25 26 27 28 29 30

Next, add headers to the calendar for the name of the current month and the names of the days of the week.  Add an asterisk before and after the current date on the calendar.  The final output format should be (of course, the actual date and time you run the program will be different!):

Current date and time is Thursday, September 29, 2016 at 10:10:01 am.

            September
            ---------

Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat
 1  2  3
 4  5  6  7  8  9 10
11 12 13 14 15 16 17
18 19 20 21 22 23 24
25 26 27 28 *29* 30

You are highly encouraged (but not required) to break up this program by writing “helper” methods, as described in Chapter 6!


This is my code so far.

import java.util.*;
public class CurrentTime
{
    public static void main(String[]args)
    {
        Scanner input;// called scanner to you the Millis function
        long year,month,day,hour,minute,second,millis,day2,dayOfWeek,hour2;//things used throughout code
        int i=0,January,Febuary,March,April,May,June,July,August,September,October,November,December;//i is used to find the day of the month, the months are for the month of the yer
        millis=(System.currentTimeMillis());//coverst the Millis function to the variable millis
        year=leapYear(millis);// returns 1 for leap year 2 for non leap years
        month = monthFinder(millis);// this actually is the year not the month
        second=secondFinder(millis);// calls the second method to find the current second IT WORKS.
        minute=minuteFinder(millis);// call the minute method to find the current minute IT WORKS
        hour = hourFinder(millis);// calls the hour method its a little screwy but fixed it with if statements in the main method hopefully
        hour2=hour;// hour2 is used to keep track of am or pm
        if(hour==-1)//used to fix the wrong 11pm hour
        {
            hour = 11;
        }
        else if(hour==0)//converts from military time to the 12hr clock
        {
            hour = 12;
        }
        else if (hour == 13)//converts from military time to the 12hr clock
        {
            hour = 1;
        }

        else if (hour == 14)//converts from military time to the 12hr clock
        {
            hour = 2;
        }
        else if (hour == 15)//converts from military time to the 12hr clock
        {
            hour = 3;
        }
        else if (hour == 16)//converts from military time to the 12hr clock
        {
            hour = 4;
        }
        else if (hour == 17)//converts from military time to the 12hr clock
        {
            hour = 5;
        }
        else if (hour == 18)//converts from military time to the 12hr clock
        {
            hour = 6;
        }
        else if (hour == 19)//converts from military time to the 12hr clock
        {
            hour = 7;
        }
        else if (hour == 20)//converts from military time to the 12hr clock
        {
            hour = 8;
        }
        else if (hour == 21)//converts from military time to the 12hr clock
        {
            hour = 9;
        }
        else if(hour==22)
        {
            hour = 10;
        }
        day = dayFinder(millis);// calls the day method to get the current day, I used the julien calendar then converted it to the regular calendar
        day2=day;//day2 is used to convert from the julien to regular calendar day
        for(i=1;i<=12;i++)//i by the end of this loop will equal the current month
        {
            if(i==2)// this is used for febuary if its a leap year or not
            {
                if(year ==1)//if leapyear method returned one we come here
                {
                    if((day2-29)<=0)//this is used incase it is febuary and not the end of the month
                    {
                        break;
                    }
                    else//this will subtract 29 days from day2
                    {
                        day2-=29;
                    }
                }
                else
                {
                    if((day2-28)<=0)//this is used when they year is not a leapyear
                    {
                        break;
                    }
                    else//takes 28 from day2
                    {
                        day2-=28;
                    }
                }
            }
            else// this is also for febuary if it is not a leapyear
            {
                if(i==1||i==3||i==5||i==7||i==8||i==10||i==12)//this is for all months that end with 31 days
                {
                    if((day2-31)<=0)//this is incase day2 is less than 31
                    {
                        break;
                    }
                    else// this will take 31 from day2
                    {
                        day2-=31;
                    }
                }
                else if(i==4||i==6||i==9||i==11)//this is for all months that end with 30 days
                {
                    if((day2-30)<=0)// this is incase day2 is less than 30
                    {
                        break;
                    }
                    else//this will take 30 from day2
                    {
                        day2-=30;
                    }
                }
            }
        }
        dayOfWeek=((day2+(13*((i+9)%12+1)-1)/5+month%100+month%100/4+month/400-2*(month/100))%7+7)%7+1;//this finds the day of the week
        System.out.print("Current date and time is ");//simply prints on the screen
        if(dayOfWeek == 1)// this statement is used to print the day of the week on the screen
        {
            System.out.print("Sunday, ");
        }
        else if(dayOfWeek == 2)
        {
            System.out.print("Monday, ");
        }
        else if(dayOfWeek == 3)
        {
            System.out.print("Tuesday, ");
        }
        else if(dayOfWeek == 4)
        {
            System.out.print("Wednesday, ");
        }
        else if(dayOfWeek == 5)
        {
            System.out.print("Thursday, ");
        }
        else if(dayOfWeek == 6)
        {
            System.out.print("Friday, ");
        }
        else
        {
            System.out.print("Saturday");
        }
        switch(i)//this statement is used to print the current month on the screen
        {
            case 1: System.out.print("January");
            break;
            case 2: System.out.print("Febuary");
            break;      
            case 3: System.out.print("March");
            break;
            case 4: System.out.print("April");
            break;
            case 5: System.out.print("May");
            break;
            case 6: System.out.print("June");
            break;
            case 7: System.out.print("July");
            break;
            case 8: System.out.print("August");
            break;
            case 9: System.out.print("September");
            break;
            case 10: System.out.print("October");
            break;
            case 11: System.out.print("November");
            break;
            default: System.out.print("December");
        }
        System.out.print(" "+day2+", ");//this prints the current day on the screen
        System.out.print(month+" at ");//this prints the current year on the screen
        System.out.print(hour+":");//this prints the corrent hour on the screen(i hope)
        if (minute < 10)//made this because the minute when under 10 was a single digit
        {
            System.out.print("0"+minute+":");
        }
        else
        {
            System.out.print(minute+":");
        }
        if (second < 10)//made this for the same reason as minute
        {
            System.out.print("0"+second);
        }
        else
        {
            System.out.print(second);
        }
        if(hour2>=0&&hour2<12)//prints am or pm on the screen
        {
            System.out.print(" am.");
        }
        else
        {
            System.out.print(" pm.");
        }
        
    }

    public static long leapYear(long foundYear)//this is used to find leap year
    {
        long millisYear = ((((((foundYear)/1000L)/60L)/60L)/24L)/365L) ; // calculates the millis function to years 2016 = 46
        int year = (1970+(int) millisYear);//this adds 46 to 1970 since thats when it all began
        if((((year%4)==0) && ((year %100) !=0)) || ((year%400)==0))//returns if its a leapyear
        {
            return 1;
        }
        else
        {
            return 2;
        }

    }

    public static long monthFinder(long foundMonth)//actually finds the year not the month
    {
        long millisYear = ((((((foundMonth)/1000L)/60L)/60L)/24L)/365L); 
        int year = (1970+(int) millisYear);
        return year;
    }

    public static long dayFinder(long foundDay)//finds the julian calender date for 2016 not sure how it will work for nonleapyears
    {
        long millisDay= ((foundDay)/(1000*60*60*24));
        long year = ((((((foundDay)/1000L)/60L)/60L)/24L)/365L) ;
        long year2 =(1970+(int) year);
        if((((year2%4)==0) && ((year2 %100) !=0)) || ((year2%400)==0))
        {
            long day = ((millisDay%365)-10);
            return day;
        }
        else
        {
            long day = ((millisDay%365)-9);
            return day;
        }
    }

    public static long hourFinder(long foundHour)// finds the hour and converts it to CST well alsmost 11p.m == -1 for some reason 
    {
        long millisHour=((foundHour)/(((1000)*60)*60));
        long hour = (((millisHour)%24)-5);
        return hour;
    }

    public static long minuteFinder(long foundMinute)// finds the minute WORKS
    {
        long millisMinute= ((foundMinute)/(1000*60));
        long minute= millisMinute%60;
        return minute;
    }

    public static long secondFinder(long foundSecond)// finds the second WORKS
    {
        long millisSecond= foundSecond/1000;
        long second= millisSecond%60;
        return second;
    }
}

[Norm Radder]

Lots of redundant code.  Lines 24 to 63 could be done by just subtracting 12.
The names of the days and months could be obtained by indexing an array.

[Junilu Lacar]

Way too much code that's specific to date calculation in main. You don't want that; it gets messy as you can see from what you have now.  Ideally, your high-level code should look something like this:

public static void main(String[] args) {
     displayCalendarMonth(new CurrentTime());
}

private static void displayCalendarMonth(CurrentTime now) {
     printCalendarHeader();
     ...
}

I probably would think about renaming the class to something a little more generic though. Ideally, you would call methods on an object of this class to get other instances that represent other Date/Time moments. So, you could write something like this:

     MillisDate today = new MillisDate();
     int thisMonth = today.month();

     for (MillisDate currentDay = today.firstOfMonth(); currentDay.month() == thisMonth; currentDay = currentDay.nextDay()) {
          // ... do something with currentDay
     }

By putting the logic for printing a calendar for a single month in a separate method, this allows you to do something like this:

    MillisDate today = new MillisDate();
    displayCalendarMonth(today.firstOfMonth().previousDay());

This is kind of how the old standard Date/Calendar API works.

[Junilu Lacar]

You won't have to throw away much of the code you have right now to get the kind of API I described. You just have to tease apart some of the code that you wrote and put them into their own separate instance methods.  However, it appears that you're still not doing object-oriented programming because of all the static methods you have. Shifting your thinking to this kind of design may be a stretch for you at the moment. The example is something you might want to keep in mind though as you get into proper OO programming.

[Junilu Lacar]

You can still do some refactoring (Extract method) with your current code that will make it easier for you to eventually write the code to produce the calendar display you need.  For example, this section of code in main:
       switch(i)//this statement is used to print the current month on the screen        {            case 1: System.out.print("January");            break;            case 2: System.out.print("Febuary");            break;                  case 3: System.out.print("March");            break;            case 4: System.out.print("April");            break;            case 5: System.out.print("May");            break;            case 6: System.out.print("June");            break;            case 7: System.out.print("July");            break;            case 8: System.out.print("August");            break;            case 9: System.out.print("September");            break;            case 10: System.out.print("October");            break;            case 11: System.out.print("November");            break;            default: System.out.print("December");        }
can be extracted so that you have:

public static void main(String[] args) {
    ...

    System.out.println(monthName(i));  // Line 150
    // switch-case code for month name moved/extracted to monthName()
    ...
}

private static String monthName(int i) {
    switch(i)
    {
         case 1: return "January"; break;
         case 2: return "February"; break;
         ...
    }
}

And from there, it's easier to see that the switch-case can be replaced by a single statement:

private static final String[] MONTH_NAMES = {"January", "February", ...};

private static String monthName(int month) {
     return MONTH_NAMES[month - 1];
}

The same technique can be used for a method like dayOfWeek() / DAY_OF_WEEK_NAMES.

Lastly, with a more object-oriented design like I illustrated before, you could write things like this:

     MillisDate now = new MillisDate();
     System.out.println("Today is " + now.dayOfWeek());
     System.out.println("It is day " + now.julianDay() + " of the year " + now.year());
     System.out.println("In the month of " + now.monthName());