Is there a way to have a puted property observe the current time (for use in a timestamp)?

For example in my controller I might have a method that looked something like this:

formatLastUpdated:function() {
    return moment(this.get("model.update_ts")).fromNow();
}.property("model.update_ts", "date.now?"),

Is there a way to have a puted property observe the current time (for use in a timestamp)?

For example in my controller I might have a method that looked something like this:

formatLastUpdated:function() {
    return moment(this.get("model.update_ts")).fromNow();
}.property("model.update_ts", "date.now?"),

• javascript
• time
• ember.js

• What are you trying to achieve? You don't want to be observing time, as it is continually changing. If it were possible to do this, your javascript would be stuck in a continuous loop of just updating that property, and never have enough time (no pun intended) to do anything else. I think if you explain what the desired oute is, there will be a better way. – Scott Commented Dec 21, 2013 at 11:53
• Yeah just looking for my las updated timestamp which is relative(using moment.js) to stay current. I'll try kingpins answer – Ben Commented Dec 21, 2013 at 19:13

2 Answers 2

The ember-time repository includes a good example of what you are trying to do.

They use a custom view via a handlebars helper. The view sets up a tick function which is called every second via Ember.run.later:

didInsertElement: function() {
  this.tick();
},
tick: function() {
  var nextTick = Ember.run.later(this, function() {
    this.notifyPropertyChange('value');
    this.tick();
  }, 1000);
  this.set('nextTick', nextTick);
},
willDestroyElement: function() {
  var nextTick = this.get('nextTick');
  Ember.run.cancel(nextTick);
}

The notifyPropertyChange call tells the view that the property has changed and so triggers the re-render...

Agree with Scott pletely. That being said, you could create a global property that you update once a minute or so with the latest time so you are working with a subset of time.

I would store it on the application controller, then use a needs from other controllers. Here's an example.

http://emberjs.jsbin./Elibefem/1/edit