Ruby on Rails, Datepicker search between two dates - ruby-on-rails-4

Question

I am a new ROR user trying to implement a DateTime picker to select dates for a search function.
My problem is that when I enter two dates (date from, and date to) in the DatePicker, I get inconsistent results from the search. Sometimes I get no results, and sometimes I get all the results. I am also using the bootstrap-datepicker-rails gem as well as the ransack gem.
This is what my view looks like
<div class="field">
<%= f.label :departure_date_gteq, "Departure Date Between" %>
<%= f.search_field :departure_date_gteq, "data-provide" => "datepicker" %>
<%= f.label :return_date_lteq, "and" %>
<%= f.search_field :return_date_lteq, "data-provide" => "datepicker" %>
</div>
The two database columns I am referencing are departure_date, and return_date. The date stored is datetime and looks like this,
departure_date
2016-08-07 00:00:00.000000
return_date
2016-08-14 00:00:00.000000
I enter 2016-08-06 and 2016-08-15 in the DatePickers and I am returned all the results.
Could my search form DatePicker be sending data that cannot be correctly compared to the DateTime in the database?
Am I using the 'gteq' and 'lteq' calls correctly?
EDIT #1
#Michael Gaskill, you are correct that the problem is the date formatting. When I enter a date manually, I get the correct search results. I just need to figure out how to correct the formatting before its passed to the controller.
Here is what my controller looks like.
class HomeController < ApplicationController
def index
#search = Sailing.search(params[:q])
#sailings = #search.result
... Other calls ...
end
end
Here is the full piece of code in my view that generates sailings content. Note that I'm using search_for_for which is part of the ransack gem.
<%= search_form_for #search, url: root_path, method: :post do |f| %>
<div class="field">
<%= f.label :cruise_ship_name_or_cruise_ship_company_or_destination_identifier_cont, "Cruise Ship Name" %>
<%= f.text_field :cruise_ship_name_or_cruise_ship_company_or_destination_identifier_cont %>
</div>
<div class="field">
<%= f.label :departure_date_gteq, "Departure Date Between" %>
<%= f.search_field :departure_date_gteq, "data-provide" => "datepicker" %>
<%= f.label :return_date_lteq, "and" %>
<%= f.search_field :return_date_lteq, "data-provide" => "datepicker" %>
</div>
<div class="actions"><%= f.submit "Search" %></div>
<% end %>
Thanks.

Answer 1

You need to convert the string-formatted dates entered in the form (either via the DatePicker or manually-entered) to Date or DateTime values. When you query the database, use this DateTime#strptime to convert:
MyTable.where(date_field_to_search: DateTime.strptime(date_value_from_ui, "%F %T")
You can check out the formats available as the second argument to strptime, using the instructions at DateTime:strftime. Note that strftime and strptime are used to convert back and forth between DateTime and formatted String values.
In your Sailing#search(params[:q]) example, you can either implement the solution in Sailing#search (if you have access to change that code) or prior to calling Sailing.search.
Here is how you might implement this in Sailing#search:
class Sailing
def search(args)
datetime = args[:date_field_to_search]
if datetime.kind_of?(String)
datetime = DateTime.strptime(datetime, "%F %T")
end
# other search functionality
end
end
or, prior to calling Sailing#search:
datetime = params[:q][:date_field_to_search]
if datetime.kind_of?(String)
datetime = DateTime.strptime(datetime, "%F %T")
end
Sailing.search(params[:q].merge({ date_field_to_search: datetime })