Timezone storage and retrieval for Laravel

#Laravel Timezone

An easy way to set a timezone for a user in your application and then show date/times to them in their local timezone.

#How does it work

This package listens for the \Illuminate\Auth\Events\Login event and will then automatically set a timezone on your user model (stored in the database).

This package uses the torann/geoip package which looks up the users location based on their IP address. The package also returns information like the users currency and users timezone. You can configure this package separately if you require.

#How to use

You can show dates to your user in their timezone by using

{{ Timezone::convertToLocal($post->created_at) }}

Or use our nice blade directive

@displayDate($post->created_at)

More examples below

#Installation

Pull in the package using Composer

composer require jamesmills/laravel-timezone

Publish database migrations

php artisan vendor:publish --provider="JamesMills\LaravelTimezone\LaravelTimezoneServiceProvider" --tag=migrations

Run the database migrations. This will add a timezone column to your users table.

php artisan migrate

#Examples

#Showing date/time to the user in their timezone

Default will use the format jS F Y g:i:a and will not show the timezone

{{ Timezone::convertToLocal($post->created_at) }}
 
// 4th July 2018 3:32:am

If you wish you can set a custom format and also include a nice version of the timezone

{{ Timezone::convertToLocal($post->created_at, 'Y-m-d g:i', true) }}
 
// 2018-07-04 3:32 New York, America

#Using blade directive

Making your life easier one small step at a time

@displayDate($post->created_at)
 
// 4th July 2018 3:32:am

And with custom formatting

@displayDate($post->created_at, 'Y-m-d g:i', true)
 
// 2018-07-04 3:32 New York, America

#Saving the users input to the database in UTC

This will take a date/time, set it to the users timezone then return it as UTC in a Carbon instance.

$post = Post::create([
    'publish_at' => Timezone::convertFromLocal($request->get('publish_at')),
    'description' => $request->input('description'),
]);

#Custom Configuration

Publishing the config file is optional.

php artisan vendor:publish --provider="JamesMills\LaravelTimezone\LaravelTimezoneServiceProvider" --tag=config

#Flash Messages

When the timezone has been set, we display a flash message, By default, is configured to use Laravel default flash messaging, here are some of the optional integrations.

laracasts/flash - 'flash' => 'laracasts'

mercuryseries/flashy - 'flash' => 'mercuryseries'

spatie/laravel-flash - 'flash' => 'spatie'

mckenziearts/laravel-notify - 'flash' => 'mckenziearts'

usernotnull/tall-toasts - 'flash' => 'tall-toasts'

To override this configuration, you just need to change the flash property inside the configuration file config/timezone.php for the desired package. You can disable flash messages by setting 'flash' => 'off'.

#Overwrite existing timezones in the database

By default, the timezone will be overwritten at each login with the current user timezone. This behavior can be restricted to only update the timezone if it is blank by setting the 'overwrite' => false, config option.

#Default Format

By default, the date format will be jS F Y g:i:a. To override this configuration, you just need to change the format property inside the configuration file config/timezone.php for the desired format.

#Lookup Array

This lookup array configuration makes it possible to find the remote address of the user in any attribute inside the Laravel request helper, by any key. Having in mind when the key is found inside the attribute, that key will be used. By default, we use the server attribute with the key REMOTE_ADDR. To override this configuration, you just need to change the lookup property inside the configuration file config/timezone.php for the desired lookup.

#User Message

You may configure the message shown to the user when the timezone is set by changing the message property inside the configuration file config/timezone.php

#Underlying GeoIp Package

If you wish to customise the underlying torann/geoip package you can publish the config file by using the command below.

php artisan vendor:publish --provider="Torann\GeoIP\GeoIPServiceProvider" --tag=config

#Changelog

Please see CHANGELOG for more information what has changed recently.

#Contributing

Please see CONTRIBUTING for details.

#License

This package is 100% free and open-source, under the MIT license. Use it however you want.

This package is Treeware. If you use it in production, then we ask that you buy the world a tree to thank us for our work. By contributing to the Treeware forest you’ll be creating employment for local families and restoring wildlife habitats.

#Issues

If you receive a message like This cache store does not support tagging this is because the torann/geoip package requires a caching driver which supports tagging and you probably have your application set to use the file cache driver. You can publish the config file for the torann/geoip package and set 'cache_tags' => null, to solve this. Read more about this issue here.