# Date formulas

Workato supports a variety of date and datetime formulas. Formulas in Workato are whitelisted Ruby methods, and therefore not all Ruby methods are supported. You can always reach out to us to add additional formulas to the whitelist. Syntax and functionality for these formulas are generally unchanged. Take note that most formulas will return an error and stop the job if it tries to operate on nulls (expressed as nil in Ruby), except for present?, presence and blank?.

You can refer to the complete Ruby documentation for Time here.

# Basics

# now

Returns the current date and time that the action was carried out by Workato.

# Example

In the following example, Workato carries out the action on on 2 April 2017, 12.30PM.

# today

Returns the current date that the action was carried out by Workato.

# Example

In the following example, Workato carries out the action on on 2 April 2017, 12.30PM.

# from_now

Produces a value that is forward in time from that point in time. Needs to be combined with <value>.<time-unit> eg. 3.days or 5.minutes

# Example

In the following example, Workato carries out the action on on 2 April 2017, 12.30PM.

# ago

Produces a value that is backward in time from that point in time. Needs to be combined with <value>.<time-unit> eg. 3.days or 5.minutes

# Example

In the following example, Workato carries out the action on on 2 April 2017, 12.30PM.

# wday

Returns day of the week (numbering starts with Monday = 1)

# Example

# yday

Returns the day number of the year

# Example

# yweek

Returns the week number of the year

# Date arithmetics

We can make use of certain keywords such as days, months, years, minutes and seconds to perform date arithmetics to add or subtract days, months, years, minutes and seconds from dates and datetimes.

# Example

# Getting first/last timestamp of the current/next periods

Using a combination of date formulas, and date arithmetics, we can easily obtain the first and last days of a current or subsequent time period using some helper functions. Not all time periods are supported just yet.

# beginning_of_hour

Firstly, turn on formula mode and we have access to the .beginning_of_hour function. It returns timestamp for top-of-the-hour for given timestamp.

# Example

# beginning_of_day

Firstly, turn on formula mode and we have access to the .beginning_of_day function. It returns timestamp for midnight on date of given date/timestamp.

# Example

# beginning_of_week

Firstly, turn on formula mode and we have access to the .beginning_of_week function. It returns the date for start of week (Mon) for a given date/timestamp.

# Example

# beginning_of_month

Firstly, turn on formula mode and we have access to the .beginning_of_month function. It returns the date for the start of the month for the given date/timestamp.

# beginning_of_year

Firstly, turn on formula mode and we have access to the .beginning_of_year function. It returns the date for the start of the year for the given date/timestamp.

# Example

# Beginning of next month

To retrieve a date for the beginning of the next month, we simply need to add a month to the input date, and use the previously mentioned function get the beginning of the month.

# End of current or next month

To retrieve a date for the end of the current month, use the .end_of_month method. It returns the date for the start of the month for the given date/timestamp.

"2017-08-18T00:00:00".to_time.end_of_month # => 2017-08-31 23:59:59 +0000
"2017-08-18T00:00:00".to_date.end_of_month # => Thu, 31 Aug 2017

# Display conversion

# strftime

To change the format of a datetime value to suit your preferences, you can use the .strftime formula to do so.

# Example

As shown above, each code (%B, %e, %I etc.) refers to a specific element of datetime. Static text and punctuation can also be added, such as commas (,), slashes (/), and colons (:). Here's a list of commonly used codes in Workato:

To access the full list, check out the Ruby documentation

# in_time_zone

Converts a time value to a different time zone. This function uses the list of time zone names from the IANA time zone database. The output will be an equivalent time in a different time zone. Find out more here

# Example

# dst?

Returns true if the time is within Daylight Savings Time for the specified time zone.

# Example

# Regions reference

Refer to the following table for the timezone name to use in the formula.

# Converting datetime to date

To convert a date data type into a datetime data, or vice versa, use the to_date or to_time formulas.

# to_date

This function converts a value in another data type, e.g. time or string, into a date data type. By default, the format of the date returned will be YYYY-MM-DD.

You can specify the format of the date returned via an additional parameter format.

# Example

# to_time

This function converts a value in another data type, e.g. date or string, into a date data type. Dates will be represented in UTC offset (i.e. expressed in GMT timezone of +00:00).

If a datetime is coverted using the to_time formula, it will be expressed in UTC offset. If a date is converted using the to_time formula, it will take the time of 00:00:00.000000 (i.e. midnight sharp), expressed in UTC offset.

# Example

# Conditionals

# blank?

This function checks the input string and returns true if it is an empty string or if it is null.

# Example

# present?

This function will check the input, returning true if there is a value present. If input is null or an empty string, formula returns false.

# Example

# presence

This function will check the input, returning its value if there is one present, else returning nil.

# Example