Time Type

TimeStringType

The TimeStringType can be used to represent a specific string field for HH:MM:SS times. It keeps the string type, but makes sure the format is normalized and valid.

Besides string input, it can also accept the framework dropdown select values from a default time control:

$data = [
    // ...
    'closing_time' => [
        'hour' => '1',
        'minute' => '12',
        'second' => '20',
    ],
];
$entity = $this->Table->newEntity($data);
// $entity->closing_time is now 01:12:20

To set it up for a specific field:

// In your Table class
protected function _initializeSchema(Table $table) {
    $table->columnType('closing_time', 'time');
    // ...
    return $table;
}

Then make sure you mapped the type to a class in your config:

// In your bootstrap
use Cake\Database\Type;

Type::map('time', 'Shim\Database\Type\TimeStringType');

If you want to disable 24:00:00 as the valid upper boundary (and transform it to 00:00:00 instead):

// In your bootstrap
\Shim\Database\Type\TimeStringType::$normalizeUpperBoundary = true;

What about objects?

We could also think about a value object representing time. This way you could offer a bit more functionality:

• format() with, for example, only HH:MM etc. — but most of this can already be done on the presentation layer via a helper.
• diff() in HH:MM:SS or \DateInterval.
• isSame()/isBefore()/isAfter() methods.
• fromDateTime() and similar to extract the time part.

Even custom localized formatting like AM/PM could be added, but this should really be kept in the presentation layer to keep such logic out of the value object itself.

TIP

Feel free to add a TimeObjectType class for this use case.