Return date if within date range - ruby

Question

I have an object which contains a list of due dates, I am trying to build a system which returns the due date when a specified date is 1 month or less before the due date. It should return the due date in this format "1st Feb 2009". Let me clarify, using my current code
#Build array of estate objects
estate.due_dates = "1st Feb, 3rd May, 1st Aug, 5th Nov"
estate2.due_dates = "28th Feb, 31st May, 31st Aug, 30th Nov"
estates = [estate,estate2]
set_due_date_on_estates("1st Jan 2009",estates) #Run function - should return "1st Feb 2009,28th Feb 2009"
def set_due_date_on_estates(date,estates)
estates.each{|estate|
estate.due_dates.split(",").each{|due_date|
((date)..(date >> 1)).each{|current_date|
estate.set_reminder(due_date + current_date.strftime("%Y")) if current_date.strftime('%d %m') ==
Date.parse(due_date).strftime('%d %m')
}
}
end
}
The issue I am having, is that my list of due dates doesnt have a Year, so I am looping through my range and checking if the dates are equal using the format "%d %m". If so I am setting the reminder in the estate object by using the current "due date" in the loop concatenated with the Year of the "current date" in the loop.
Am not too happy with the code, in particular the nested loops and wondered if there was a better way I could deal with checking that the due_dates where in the date range, even though the due_dates dont have a year. Thanks

Answer 1

You could use date parsers: Kronos, chronic
Example for kronos:
def parse_date(date)
Kronos.parse(date.sub(/\d{4}$/, ''))
end
This function gives you a Kronos object without year which is more easily to compare, build range and so on.

Answer 2

Yes you can use Chronic and also you can write a worker which will keep checking if the specified date is 1 month or less before the due date at regular interval. And ask that worker to do something if result is true (say send you an email or anything if date is within due date) you can find more information about worker by googling Resque and Redis. Another option would be to convert both dates on some base reference and then do the calculations.