TimestampBehavior

API reference › yii › behaviors › TimestampBehavior

class	`yii\behaviors\TimestampBehavior`
Extends	`AttributeBehavior` » `yii\base\Behavior` » `yii\base\BaseObject`
Implements	`yii\base\Configurable`
Since	2.0
Source	`framework/behaviors/TimestampBehavior.php`

TimestampBehavior automatically fills the specified attributes with the current timestamp.

To use TimestampBehavior, insert the following code to your ActiveRecord class:

use yii\behaviors\TimestampBehavior;

public function behaviors()
{
    return [
        TimestampBehavior::class,
    ];
}

By default, TimestampBehavior will fill the created_at and updated_at attributes with the current timestamp when the associated AR object is being inserted; it will fill the updated_at attribute with the timestamp when the AR object is being updated. The timestamp value is obtained by time().

Because attribute values will be set automatically by this behavior, they are usually not user input and should therefore not be validated, i.e. created_at and updated_at should not appear in the rules() method of the model.

For the above implementation to work with MySQL database, please declare the columns(created_at, updated_at) as int(11) for being UNIX timestamp.

If your attribute names are different or you want to use a different way of calculating the timestamp, you may configure the $createdAtAttribute, $updatedAtAttribute and $value properties like the following:

use yii\db\Expression;

public function behaviors()
{
    return [
        [
            'class' => TimestampBehavior::class,
            'createdAtAttribute' => 'create_time',
            'updatedAtAttribute' => 'update_time',
            'value' => new Expression('NOW()'),
        ],
    ];
}

In case you use an Expression object as in the example above, the attribute will not hold the timestamp value, but the Expression object itself after the record has been saved. If you need the value from DB afterwards you should call the refresh() method of the record.

TimestampBehavior also provides a method named touch() that allows you to assign the current timestamp to the specified attribute(s) and save them to the database. For example,

$model->touch('creation_time');

Properties

Property	Type	Description	Defined by
`$attributes`	`array`	List of attributes that are to be automatically filled with the value specified via `$value`. Default: `[]`.	`AttributeBehavior`
`$createdAtAttribute`	`string\|false`	The attribute that will receive timestamp value Set this property to false if you do not want to record the creation time. Default: `'created_at'`.	`TimestampBehavior`
`$owner`	`yii\base\T\|null`	The owner of this behavior Default: `null`.	`yii\base\Behavior`
`$preserveNonEmptyValues`	`bool`	Whether to preserve non-empty attribute values. Default: `false`. Available since 2.0.13.	`AttributeBehavior`
`$skipUpdateOnClean`	`bool`	Whether to skip this behavior when the `$owner` has not been modified Default: `true`. Available since 2.0.8.	`AttributeBehavior`
`$updatedAtAttribute`	`string\|false`	The attribute that will receive timestamp value. Default: `'updated_at'`.	`TimestampBehavior`
`$value`	`mixed`	Default: `null`.	`TimestampBehavior`

Methods

Method	Description	Defined by
`__construct()`	Constructor.	`yii\base\BaseObject`
`__call()`	Calls the named method which is not a class method.	`yii\base\BaseObject`
`__get()`	Returns the value of an object property.	`yii\base\BaseObject`
`__isset()`	Checks if a property is set, i.e. defined and not null.	`yii\base\BaseObject`
`__set()`	Sets value of an object property.	`yii\base\BaseObject`
`__unset()`	Sets an object property to null.	`yii\base\BaseObject`
`attach()`	Attaches the behavior object to the component.	`yii\base\Behavior`
`canGetProperty()`	Returns a value indicating whether a property can be read.	`yii\base\BaseObject`
`canSetProperty()`	Returns a value indicating whether a property can be set.	`yii\base\BaseObject`
`className()` static	Returns the fully qualified name of this class.	`yii\base\BaseObject`
`detach()`	Detaches the behavior object from the component.	`yii\base\Behavior`
`evaluateAttributes()`	Evaluates the attribute value and assigns it to the current attributes.	`AttributeBehavior`
`events()`	Declares event handlers for the `$owner`’s events.	`AttributeBehavior`
`hasMethod()`	Returns a value indicating whether a method is defined.	`yii\base\BaseObject`
`hasProperty()`	Returns a value indicating whether a property is defined.	`yii\base\BaseObject`
`init()`	Initializes the object.	`TimestampBehavior`
`touch()`	Updates a timestamp attribute to the current timestamp.	`TimestampBehavior`
`getValue()` protected	Returns the value for the current attributes.	`TimestampBehavior`

Property details

$updatedAtAttribute

public string|false $updatedAtAttribute = 'updated_at'

The attribute that will receive timestamp value.

Set this property to false if you do not want to record the update time.

$value

public mixed $value = null

In case, when the value is null, the result of the PHP function time() will be used as value.

This can be an anonymous function, callable in array format (e.g. [$this, 'methodName']), an Expression object representing a DB expression (e.g. new Expression('NOW()')), scalar, string or an arbitrary value. If the former, the return value of the function will be assigned to the attributes. The signature of the function should be as follows,

function ($event)
{
    // return value will be assigned to the attribute
}

Method details

init()

public function init(): mixed

Initializes the object.

This method is invoked at the end of the constructor after the object is initialized with the given configuration.

Returns

mixed

touch()

public function touch(string $attribute): mixed

Updates a timestamp attribute to the current timestamp.

$model->touch('lastVisit');

Parameters

Parameter	Type	Description
`$attribute`	`string`	The name of the attribute to update.

Returns

mixed

Throws

yii\base\InvalidCallException: if owner is a new record (since version 2.0.6).

getValue()

protected function getValue(mixed $event): mixed

Returns the value for the current attributes.

In case, when the $value is null, the result of the PHP function time() will be used as value.

This method is called by evaluateAttributes(). Its return value will be assigned to the attributes corresponding to the triggering event.

Parameters

Parameter	Type	Description
`$event`	`mixed`	The event that triggers the current attribute updating.

Returns

mixed: The attribute value