# Two Noob Questions **URL:** \ **Category:** Rails\ **Created:** [August 27, 2008, 1:52am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/two-noob-questions/146952 "2008-08-27T01:52:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![trope](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/t/71c47a/32.png) [@trope](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/trope)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2008, 1:52am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/two-noob-questions/146952/1 "2008-08-27T01:52:43Z")
I am building my first application, and have a couple of quick questions. Hopefully someone can point me in the right direction. 1. When I created my model , I noticed a field named “created\_at” , which comes in handy. But when I retrieve the value , it comes back very long and un-user friendly. How do I return this date as: Jun 23 08 , or March 21, 2008 , etc? 2. In my layout , I have some simple CSS which formats some tabs ( li’s ). If we are on a certain page , I would add “class = current” to make the tab background a different color. How do I differentiate which page I am on , so I can add the class current to the proper page? Thanks! Glad to be on board. JT ---
**Author:** ![trope](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/t/71c47a/32.png) [@trope](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/trope)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2008, 2:18am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/two-noob-questions/146952/2 "2008-08-27T02:18:28Z")
JT, 1. Look through strftime at [class Time - RDoc Documentation](http://ruby-doc.org/core/classes/Time.html#M000297) e.g: created\_at.strfime(‘%B %d’) == ‘January 01’ 2. controller.controller\_name and controller.action\_name give you the current controller and action in a view. Here’s some ideas on tab helpers: [http://www.therailsway.com/2007/6/4/free-for-all-tab-helper](http://www.therailsway.com/2007/6/4/free-for-all-tab-helper) [http://www.therailsway.com/2007/6/28/free-for-all-tab-helper-summary](http://www.therailsway.com/2007/6/28/free-for-all-tab-helper-summary) ---
**Author:** ![trope](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/t/71c47a/32.png) [@trope](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/trope)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2008, 2:27am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/two-noob-questions/146952/3 "2008-08-27T02:27:14Z")
There’s also params[:controller] and params[:action] that do the same thing as controller.controller\_name and controller.action\_name respectively. ---
**Author:** ![trope](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/t/71c47a/32.png) [@trope](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/trope)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2008, 2:22am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/two-noob-questions/146952/4 "2008-08-27T02:22:33Z")
On Tue, Aug 26, 2008 at 7:52 PM, trope [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > I am building my first application, and have a couple of quick > questions. Hopefully someone can point me in the right direction. > > 1. When I created my model , I noticed a field named “created\_at” , > which comes in handy. But when I retrieve the value , it comes back > very long and un-user friendly. How do I return this date as: Jun 23 > 08 , or March 21, 2008 , etc? strftime is your answer [http://ruby-doc.org/core/classes/Time.html#M000297](http://ruby-doc.org/core/classes/Time.html#M000297) Make sure to set your time zone in environment.rb > 1. In my layout , I have some simple CSS which formats some tabs > ( li’s ). If we are on a certain page , I would add “class = current” > to make the tab background a different color. How do I differentiate > which page I am on , so I can add the class current to the proper > page? In your controller set an instance variable such as: @css\_class = “class = current” Use it in your page as: \<%= @css\_class %\>