Dateable is a plugin to integrate features from Chronic into ActiveRecord
just throw dateable into your gemfile
gem 'dateable'
Create a database migration with the fields #{field}, #{field}_string, and #{field}_specificity
create_table :calendar_entries do |table| table.datetime :appointment_date table.string :appointment_date_string table.string :appointment_date_specificity end
Then, whenever you update #{field}_string, #{field} and #{field}_specificity get updated accordingly:
entry = CalendarEntry.create entry.appointment_date_string = 'May 18th, 1985' entry.save $ entry.appointment_date.to_s => "1985-05-18 00:00:00 -0700"