JSQMessage set date attribute from unformatted String

Question

I am receiving the chat data from an API and it returns the date of the message as follow :

    30 minutes ago
    1 hour ago
    2 weeks ago 
    ... etc

But in JSQMessage it takes only NSDate, and i searched and failed to find a dynamic way to convert that to an NSDate without a specific format

JSQMessage* message = [[JSQMessage alloc] initWithSenderId:@"3" senderDisplayName:@"Name" date:@"" text:@"msg"];

Any help will be much appreciated.

Answer 1

I did it manually this way since i have no control over the API

- (int) getCountFromDisplayDate : (NSString*) date {
    NSString* number = @"";
    for (int i = 0;i < date.length;i ++)
        if ([date characterAtIndex:i] == ' ')
            break;
        else
            number = [NSString stringWithFormat:@"%@%c",number,[date characterAtIndex:i]];
    if ([number intValue])
        return [number intValue];

    return 0;
}

- (NSDate*) dateForIndexPath:(NSIndexPath*) indexPath {
    NSDateFormatter * dateFormatter = [[NSDateFormatter alloc] init];
    [dateFormatter setDateFormat: @"MM/dd/yyyy"];
    NSString* displayDate= _chat[indexPath.item][@"DisplayDate"];

    NSString* whatWeDisplay = @"";
    if ([displayDate containsString:@"ago"]) {
        int count = [self getCountFromDisplayDate : displayDate] * -1;
        if ([displayDate containsString:@"second"]) {
            whatWeDisplay = [dateFormatter stringFromDate:[NSDate dateWithTimeIntervalSinceNow:count]];
        }
        else if ([displayDate containsString:@"minute"]) {
            whatWeDisplay = [dateFormatter stringFromDate:[NSDate dateWithTimeIntervalSinceNow:count * 60]];
        }
        else if ([displayDate containsString:@"hour"]) {
            whatWeDisplay = [dateFormatter stringFromDate:[NSDate dateWithTimeIntervalSinceNow:count * 60 * 60]];
        }
        else if ([displayDate containsString:@"day"]) {
            whatWeDisplay = [dateFormatter stringFromDate:[NSDate dateWithTimeIntervalSinceNow:count * 24 * 60 * 60]];
        }
        else if ([displayDate containsString:@"week"]) {
            whatWeDisplay = [dateFormatter stringFromDate:[NSDate dateWithTimeIntervalSinceNow:count * 7 * 24 * 60 * 60]];
        }
        else if ([displayDate containsString:@"month"]) {
            whatWeDisplay = [dateFormatter stringFromDate:[NSDate dateWithTimeIntervalSinceNow:count * 30 * 24 * 60 * 60]];
        }
        else if ([displayDate containsString:@"year"]) {
            whatWeDisplay = [dateFormatter stringFromDate:[NSDate dateWithTimeIntervalSinceNow:count * 365 * 30 * 24 * 60 * 60]];
        }

    }
    else
        whatWeDisplay = displayDate;
    NSDate* theDate = [dateFormatter dateFromString:whatWeDisplay];
    if (!theDate) {

        return [NSDate date];
    }
    return theDate;
}