Question

Is it possible to generate an embedded Unix timestamp via a preprocessor macro?

For instance: #define VERSION_EXPIRE __TIMESTAMP__

The reason for this is, that i have beta versions and i want to generate an expire timestamp on compile time (in a special build configuration).

Answer 1

I’ve solved it as follows:

#define VERSION_TIMESTAMP __DATE__" "__TIME__"\x0"

In some other class

+ (NSDate *)versionExpiresInDays:(NSUInteger)days {
    NSString *dateString = [NSString stringWithUTF8String:VERSION_TIMESTAMP];   
    NSLocale *enLocale = [[[NSLocale alloc] initWithLocaleIdentifier:@"en_US"] autorelease];
    NSDate *compiledOn = [NSDate dateWithNaturalLanguageString:dateString locale:enLocale];

    return [compiledOn dateByAddingTimeInterval:days*24*60*60];
}