date-shortener-web

A web utility to shorten (encode) the date and expand (decode) shortened date back to original date

I have developed a new way to encode/decode dates within 3 or 4 characters by using base-99 format.

The logic behind this utility tool and reason of it's creation is described below.

Why did I created it?

Actually, while sharing the files across organisation I would have to maintain version numbers in the filename but those versions won't tell anything about the last updation date until I check when was it last updated. So to maintain the updation dates in the filename, I had started adding timestamp in the filename which solved my issue but looks bad and it also increases the length of the filename.

So I was searching ways to reduce the timestamp, at least the date portion to short string may be having only few characters but can tell the date. Initially, I got an idea of using base36 format instead of date and month because maximum date will be 31 which is less than 36; similary maximum month is 12 that is under 36 too. Well that solves my day-to-day problem but when I applied the same logic to years then it was limited to 36 years only. Then, I thought of using base64 format but that is also limited upto 64 years.

Since I was looking for universal date conversion, so I would require something like base99 format. I looked over the Internet but I didn't found anything like that. So I made it by my own.

What is a base99 format?

In simple language, base99 format refers to series of 0-9 followed by small & capital A-Z characters and variations of vowel characters (as shown below); were, each character refers to the position index in series.

	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9
0	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9
1	a	b	c	d	e	f	g	h	i	j
2	k	l	m	n	o	p	q	r	s	t
3	u	v	w	x	y	z	A	B	C	D
4	E	F	G	H	I	J	K	L	M	N
5	O	P	Q	R	S	T	U	V	W	X
6	Y	Z	à	è	ì	ò	ù	À	È	Ì
7	Ò	Ù	á	é	í	ó	ú	Á	É	Í
8	Ó	Ú	â	ê	î	ô	û	Â	Ê	Ô
9	Û	Î	ä	ë	ï	ö	ü	Ä	Ë	Ï

To remember the series, understand the sequence types as given below:

1. Digits → 0-9
2. Latin Small letter → a-z
3. Latin Capital letter → A-Z
4. Latin Small letter with grave → àèìòù
5. Latin Capital letter with grave → ÀÈÌÒÙ
6. Latin Small letter with acute → áéíóú
7. Latin Capital letter with acute → ÁÉÍÓÚ
8. Latin Small letter with circumflex → âêîôû
9. Latin Capital letter with circumflex → ÂÊÔÛÎ
10. Latin Small letter with diaeresis → äëïöü
11. Latin Capital letter with diaeresis → ÄËÏ

Using this format, any number in between 0-99 can be represented by a character positioned in base99 sequence

e.g., 12 → c, 19 → j, 34 → y

where, c is placed at 12th position in the sequence, j at 19th while y at 34th.

Now here is a way to use the same logic for date, so to do that let us take a date and encode it as

15-8-2019 → 15.8.2019 → f.8.kj → f8kj

Similarly, decode it back as

f8kj → f.8.kj → 15.8.2019 → 15-8-2019

How to use the app?

Follow the steps given below to encode or decode dates.

Encoding a provided date

1. Select the date you want to encode in input text field at top
2. Click on Encode button
3. See the result in the input text field at bottom and steps in between buttons

Decoding the encoded date

1. Enter the encoded date string in the input text field at bottom
2. Click on Decode button
3. See the result in the input text field at top and steps in between buttons

Development

New project

Here are the commands used to create new project

$ cargo new --lib ds
$ mv ds/* ./
$ rmdir ds

Build project

Generate debug or release build using these commands of bash file

Debug

It would generate debug build

$ sh build.sh -d

Release

It would generate release build

$ sh build.sh -r

Run project

Run static server using node.js based script having zero dependency

$ sh build.sh -s

Install

With the added support for Web Shell, now the CLI port of the same app is also available.

So if you're using the Web Shell under same user-profile, then just click the Install link for direct installation.

Otherwise to install it manually, open the Web Shell on browser, run

install https://dateshortener.surge.sh/js/mod.js

That's it! Now you can try below commands.

Usage

Open the application in terminal & run the required commands as shown below

Examples

Few sample usages are given below

$ ds -t
2ckj
$ ds -t -s
2-12-2019 -> 2.12.2019 -> 2.c.kj -> 2ckj
$ ds -d 2ckj -s
2ckj -> 2.c.kj -> 2.12.2019 -> 2-12-2019
$ ds -e 2/12/2019 -s
2-12-2019 -> 2.12.2019 -> 2.c.kj -> 2ckj

Help

Find out all the available command options & flags

$ ds -h
DATE SHORTENER
It is a tool to shorten (encode) the date and expand (decode) shortened date back to original date.

Usage: ds [options]

Options:
    -h, --help                 display the help menu
    -v, --version              display the application version
    -e, --encode DD-MM-YYYY    encode the provided date
    -d, --decode DMY           decode the provided code
    -t, --today                encode today's date
    -s, --steps                show with steps

Examples: 
 $ ds -v 
 $ ds -t 
 $ ds -t -s 
 $ ds -e 15/08/19 
 $ ds -e 15/08/2019 -s 
 $ ds -d f8j 
 $ ds -d f8kj -s 

Version

See the currently available version

$ ds -v
DATE SHORTENER (Version 1.0.0)
Copyright (c) 2019 Abhishek Kumar.
Licensed under the MIT License.