Relative date format issue

Rick_Jing · August 27, 2024, 4:16pm

the relative date in Chinese language has unnecessary spaces,
usually the date format should be “mm月dd日”, the current format is “mm月 dd 日”,
I haven’t found any issue with the translation, and also I think the ember helper lead to this issue

github.com

discourse/discourse/blob/main/app/assets/javascripts/discourse/app/lib/formatter.js

import jQuery from "jquery";
import deprecated from "discourse-common/lib/deprecated";
import { helperContext, makeArray } from "discourse-common/lib/helpers";
import I18n from "discourse-i18n";

export function shortDate(date) {
  return moment(date).format(I18n.t("dates.medium.date_year"));
}

export function shortDateNoYear(date) {
  return moment(date).format(I18n.t("dates.tiny.date_month"));
}

// Suppress year if it's this year
export function smartShortDate(date, withYear = tinyDateYear) {
  return date.getFullYear() === new Date().getFullYear()
    ? shortDateNoYear(date)
    : withYear(date);
}

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I think function autoUpdatingRelativeAge adds the extra spaces.
I understand this is not an issue for English version discourse, but may cause some format issues for other languages.
I tried javascript to remove the spaces, but it won’t work with the lazy loading content.
I’m appreciated to any tips for modifying the ember helper in a plugin or any fix from the main branch.

Alteras · August 27, 2024, 11:17pm

This seems to be a bug with simplified chinese caused by the date format strings in the locale files. Looking at the git history, in v3.3.0, the format is:

github.com

discourse/discourse/blob/v3.3.0/config/locales/client.zh_CN.yml#L33


      
            percent: "%{count}%"
            short:
              thousands: "%{number}k"
              millions: "%{number}M"
          dates:
            time: "HH:mm"
            time_with_zone: "HH:mm (z)"
            time_short_day: "ddd, HH:mm"
            timeline_date: "YYYY 年 M 月"
            long_no_year: "M 月 D 日 HH:mm"
            long_no_year_no_time: "M 月 D 日"
            full_no_year_no_time: "M 月 D 日"
            long_with_year: "YYYY 年 M 月 D 日 HH:mm"
            long_with_year_no_time: "YYYY 年 M 月 D 日"
            full_with_year_no_time: "YYYY 年 M 月 D 日"
            long_date_with_year: "YYYY 年 MMM 月 D 日 LT"
            long_date_without_year: "M 月 D 日 LT"
            long_date_with_year_without_time: "YYYY 年 MMM 月 D 日"
            long_date_without_year_with_linebreak: "M 月 D 日<br/>LT"
            long_date_with_year_with_linebreak: "YYYY 年 MMM 月 D 日<br/>LT"
            wrap_ago: "%{date} 前"

github.com

discourse/discourse/blob/v3.3.0/config/locales/client.zh_CN.yml#L67-L68


      
          date_month: "M 月 D 日"
          date_year: "YYYY 年 MMM 月"

It looks like they were updated recently to (confirmed live in 3.4.0.beta1-dev)

github.com

discourse/discourse/blob/6136a275dd6b6028488ca9bb5b5f941d96048939/config/locales/client.zh_CN.yml#L33


      
            percent: "%{count}%"
            short:
              thousands: "%{number}k"
              millions: "%{number}M"
          dates:
            time: "HH:mm"
            time_with_zone: "HH:mm (z)"
            time_short_day: "ddd, HH:mm"
            timeline_date: "YYYY 年 MMM"
            long_no_year: "MMM D 日 HH:mm"
            long_no_year_no_time: "MMM D 日"
            full_no_year_no_time: "MMMM Do 日"
            long_with_year: "YYYY 年 MMM D 日 HH:mm"
            long_with_year_no_time: "YYYY 年 MMM D 日"
            full_with_year_no_time: "YYYY 年 MMMM Do 日"
            long_date_with_year: "YYYY 年 MMM D 日 LT"
            long_date_without_year: "MMM D 日 LT"
            long_date_with_year_without_time: "YYYY 年 MMM D 日"
            long_date_without_year_with_linebreak: "MMM D 日<br/>LT"
            long_date_with_year_with_linebreak: "YYYY 年 MMM D 日<br/>LT"
            wrap_ago: "%{date} 前"

github.com

discourse/discourse/blob/6136a275dd6b6028488ca9bb5b5f941d96048939/config/locales/client.zh_CN.yml#L67-L68


      
          date_month: "MMM D 日"
          date_year: "YYYY 年 MMM"

Testing the format string "MMM D 日" against with the default Momentjs config for zh-cn in a codepen, it is producing the observed defect (ie "8月 2 日")

For immediate fix, you can change the format via the translation for js.dates.tiny.date_month and js.dates.long_no_year_no_time as so:

Topic		Replies	Views
Change to DD Mmm / Mmm 'YY for post dates UX	35	7210	February 13, 2024
Short date format on old posts: YYYY vs 'YY UX completed	20	1104	February 17, 2024
Date in timeline slider sometimes not showing in mobile layout UX	5	456	April 7, 2023
How can an admin set the datetime format? Support	5	1542	June 8, 2024
Changing post date format Support	7	1478	August 14, 2019

Relative date format issue

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