1. Introduction
2. Set the Locale
3. Set the validation rule
4. Saving dates
5. Formatting dates
6. Changing the target language

Introduction ¶

I needed British (dd/mm/yyyy) formatted dates throughout my application but found it very difficult to find examples of how to do this - until I found this excellent forum post http://www.yiiframework.com/forum/index.php?/topic/3649-dealing-with-i18n-date-formats/

So heres my complete solution - note that I'm using the 'short' date format throughout.

Set the Locale ¶

Add this line to protected/main/config.php, I have it just after the application name

return array(
	'basePath'=>dirname(__FILE__).DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR.'..',
	'name'=>'My Application',
	'sourceLanguage'=>'en_gb',

Set the validation rule ¶

In your model, eg: protected/models/client.php add this format rule for any dates

public function rules()
{
	return array(
		...
		array('date_of_birth','date','format'=>Yii::app()->locale->getDateFormat('short')),
		...

Saving dates ¶

I've modified the above forum post so that its set for short dates. Again this is in your model

protected function beforeSave()
{
			
	if(parent::beforeSave())
	{
		// Format dates based on the locale
		foreach($this->metadata->tableSchema->columns as $columnName => $column)
		{
			if ($column->dbType == 'date')
			{
				$this->$columnName = date('Y-m-d', CDateTimeParser::parse($this->$columnName, Yii::app()->locale->getDateFormat('short')));
			}
			elseif ($column->dbType == 'datetime')
			{
				$this->$columnName = date('Y-m-d H:i:s', CDateTimeParser::parse($this->$columnName, Yii::app()->locale->getDateTimeFormat('short')));
			}
		}			
			
		return true;
	}
	else
		return false;
}

Formatting dates ¶

And finally formatting the dates after a find - again this is in your model.

protected function afterFind()
{
	// Format dates based on the locale 								
	foreach($this->metadata->tableSchema->columns as $columnName => $column)
	{			
		if (!strlen($this->$columnName)) continue;
				
		if ($column->dbType == 'date')
		{ 
			$this->$columnName = Yii::app()->dateFormatter->formatDateTime(
				CDateTimeParser::parse($this->$columnName, 'yyyy-MM-dd'),'short',null);
		}
		elseif ($column->dbType == 'datetime')
		{
			$this->$columnName = Yii::app()->dateFormatter->formatDateTime(
				CDateTimeParser::parse($this->$columnName, 'yyyy-MM-dd hh:mm:ss'),'short','short');
		}
	}
	return true;
}	

Changing the target language ¶

In theory (I haven't tested it) you should be able to change the target language on the fly - my plan is when a user registers, the locale is set after login and so the dates are formatted accordingly.

Yii::app()->setLanguage($lang);