Set a date field example

For anyone else having troubles figuring this out. The Date/Time field is saved in this format: 2024-01-20T07:01:53

To get it to work, for me, I had to set up a Date Format in Configuration > Region and language > Date and time formats

I set the Name to 'Rules Format' and the Format String to 'Y-m-d\TH:m:s'

In the Rules Actions, 'Add action' of 'Set a Data Value'

Use the Data selector to pick your Entity and add a period '.' to get your field to show. Example: wo_time_clock_created.field_start_time

In the Value field, as described above, enter the token with brackets. Just add your new Date Format.

{{@rules.current_date_context:current_date | format_date('rules_format')}}

I am sure there may be a better way to do it but I got it to work. The documentation about this sure needs some help.

UPDATE: This doesn't actually work, the time does not reflect your current time zone. Could really use better documentation on this.

Ok, I think I may have finally figured it out. The Rules CurrentDateContext.php is saving the DateTime in your current timezone and not in a UTC without applying the Mountain Time (or any other specific timezone) adjustment.

So I hacked the code, with a little trial and error I got the following to work...

namespace Drupal\rules\ContextProvider;

use Drupal\Component\Datetime\TimeInterface;
use Drupal\Core\Plugin\Context\Context;
use Drupal\Core\Plugin\Context\ContextDefinition;
use Drupal\Core\Plugin\Context\ContextProviderInterface;
use Drupal\Core\StringTranslation\StringTranslationTrait;
use Drupal\Core\Datetime\DrupalDateTime;

class CurrentDateContext implements ContextProviderInterface {
  use StringTranslationTrait;

  protected $datetime;

  public function __construct(TimeInterface $datetime) {
    $this->datetime = $datetime;
  }

  public function getRuntimeContexts(array $unqualified_context_ids) {
    // Get the current Unix timestamp
    $timestamp = $this->datetime->getCurrentTime();

    // Create a DrupalDateTime object from the timestamp in UTC
    $dateTime = DrupalDateTime::createFromTimestamp($timestamp, new \DateTimeZone('UTC'));

    // Format the DateTime object to an ISO 8601 string in UTC
    $formattedDateTime = $dateTime->format('Y-m-d\TH:i:s');

    // Create the context with the formatted date time in UTC
    $context_definition = new ContextDefinition('string', $this->t('Current UTC date'));
    $context = new Context($context_definition, $formattedDateTime);

    $result = [
      'current_date' => $context,
    ];

    return $result;
  }

  /**
   * {@inheritdoc}
   */
  public function getAvailableContexts() {
    return $this->getRuntimeContexts([]);
  }

}

So now I can use just the '@rules.current_date_context:current_date' token in the 'Set a data value' Data selector. The time is saved in the database in UTC without timezone adjustments. Then when the Display is rendered with the site's timezone, it is the correct time that shows up.

I am just useful enough to get myself in trouble. So creating a patch is above me. I hope someone can make that happen. I will check back and create a new issue that is more direct if I need to.