Formatting of negative time intervals with NSDateComponentsFormatter

Originator:pete
Number:rdar://17436956 Date Originated:24-Jun-2014 06:03 PM
Status:Open Resolved:
Product:Developer Tools Product Version:Xcode6-Beta2 (6A216f)
Classification:Enhancement Reproducible:Always
 
Summary:
Currently NSDateComponentsFormatter can append the localised "remaining" string to formatted components. It is a common requirement to format a time period in the past, for example "2 minutes ago"

Specifying a negative time period simply results in negative formatted values. It would be more useful if it returned a positive value with the localised "ago" string.

Steps to Reproduce:
Following code:

var formatter = NSDateComponentsFormatter()
formatter.unitsStyle = .Full
formatter.includesTimeRemainingPhrase = true

let formattedString = formatter.stringFromTimeInterval(-60)


Expected Results:
formattedString should contain the value "1 minute ago"

Actual Results:
formattedString contains the value "-1 minute remaining"

Comments

Response from Apple Developer Relations

The phrase "N minutes ago" does not actually specify the quantity of time, it specifies a moment in time described by an implicit reference to now and a quantity. Formatting moments in time, even if relative like this, would be more appropriate for NSDateFormatter. We can treat this as a request for improving relative date formatting on NSDateFormatter though, which would indeed be a great improvement.

By pete at June 30, 2014, 9:05 a.m. (reply...)

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