Formatting a month string is not working - ios

Question

I'm trying to create month strings that look like "Jan", "Feb", "Mar"... Here is my code:
- (NSString *)getMonthNameString:(int)monthNumber {
NSDateFormatter *formatter = [NSDateFormatter new];
[formatter setDateFormat:#"MMM"];
NSArray *monthNames = [formatter standaloneMonthSymbols];
NSString *monthName;
if (monthNumber > 0) {
return monthNames[monthNumber - 1];
}
return monthNames[1];
}
So if the month number is 1, I'm expecting the code to provide month name as "Jan" and if it is 2, it has to provide month name as "Feb" and so on. But the problem is that even though I have set the format as MMM, it is still creating month names of type "January", "February" etc instead of "Jan","Feb" etc. How do I sort this out?

Answer 1

Try:
-(NSString*)getMonthNameString:(int)monthNumber
{
NSDateFormatter *formate = [NSDateFormatter new];
[formate setDateFormat:#"MMM"];
NSArray *monthNames = [formate shortMonthSymbols];
NSString *monthName;
if (monthNumber > 0)
{
monthName = [monthNames objectAtIndex:(monthNumber - 1)];
}
return monthName;
}

Answer 2

That's usually not what a NSDateFormatter is for - it is for converting real dates, and not just month numbers.
If you want to stick with it, I suggest
-(NSString*)getMonthNameString:(int)monthNumber {
NSDateFormatter *formatter = [NSDateFormatter new];
return formatter.shortMonthSymbols[monthNumber-1];
}
I see no benefit in the extra check for > 0. This just masks programming errors. You might want to add an assertion to catch that during development. (Why should an invalid number return January anyway?)
Creating formatters is expensive, though - you might want to reuse the same instance over and over again.
Or just access an array directly, i.e.
-(NSString*)getMonthNameString:(int)monthNumber {
return #[#"Jan", #"Feb", ...][monthNumber-1]; // write up to December of course
}

Answer 3

standaloneMonthSymbols is a property of NSDateFormatter. I don't think it uses the dateFormat you've set. Try using shortStandaloneMonthSymbols property instead (or veryShortStandaloneMonthSymbols if you just need one letter symbol).

Answer 4

tahavath is right. Specifically, you want to use the shortStandaloneMonthSymbols property to get it to print "Jan" or "Feb" etc.

Answer 5

Try the following:
-(NSString*)getMonthNameString:(int)monthNumber
{
NSDateFormatter *formate = [NSDateFormatter new];
[formate setDateStyle:NSDateFormatterMediumStyle];
[formate setDateFormat:#"MMM"];
NSArray *monthNames = [formate standaloneMonthSymbols];
NSString *monthName;
if (monthNumber > 0)
{
monthName = [monthNames objectAtIndex:(monthNumber - 1)];
}
return monthName;
}

Answer 6

Check your code #Karuppu MGR
-(NSString*)getMonthNameString:(int)monthNumber
{
NSDateFormatter *formate = [NSDateFormatter new];
[formate setDateFormat:#"MMM"];
NSArray *monthNames = [formate standaloneMonthSymbols];
NSString *monthName;
if (monthNumber > 0 && monthNumber<13)
{
monthName = [monthNames objectAtIndex:(monthNumber - 1)];
// your process is right but , here you have attached "return value " so every time return the monthNames array value.
}
return monthName; // if you pass zero or greathan twelve monthName return nil value
}