replacing the old HTML user guide with a Sphinx-managed user guide
diff --git a/user_guide_src/source/helpers/date_helper.rst b/user_guide_src/source/helpers/date_helper.rst
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..378ff36
--- /dev/null
+++ b/user_guide_src/source/helpers/date_helper.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,457 @@
+###########
+Date Helper
+###########
+
+The Date Helper file contains functions that help you work with dates.
+
+.. contents:: Page Contents
+
+Loading this Helper
+===================
+
+This helper is loaded using the following code
+
+::
+
+ $this->load->helper('date');
+
+The following functions are available:
+
+now()
+=====
+
+Returns the current time as a Unix timestamp, referenced either to your
+server's local time or GMT, based on the "time reference" setting in
+your config file. If you do not intend to set your master time reference
+to GMT (which you'll typically do if you run a site that lets each user
+set their own timezone settings) there is no benefit to using this
+function over PHP's time() function.
+
+.. php:method:: now()
+
+mdate()
+=======
+
+This function is identical to PHPs `date() <http://www.php.net/date>`_
+function, except that it lets you use MySQL style date codes, where each
+code letter is preceded with a percent sign: %Y %m %d etc.
+
+The benefit of doing dates this way is that you don't have to worry
+about escaping any characters that are not date codes, as you would
+normally have to do with the date() function. Example
+
+.. php:method:: mdate($datestr = '', $time = '')
+
+ :param string $datestr: Date String
+ :param integer $time: time
+ :returns: integer
+
+
+::
+
+ $datestring = "Year: %Y Month: %m Day: %d - %h:%i %a";
+ $time = time();
+ echo mdate($datestring, $time);
+
+If a timestamp is not included in the second parameter the current time
+will be used.
+
+standard_date()
+===============
+
+Lets you generate a date string in one of several standardized formats.
+Example
+
+.. php:method:: standard_date($fmt = 'DATE_RFC822', $time = '')
+
+ :param string $fmt: the chosen format
+ :param string $time: Unix timestamp
+ :returns: string
+
+::
+
+ $format = 'DATE_RFC822';
+ $time = time();
+ echo standard_date($format, $time);
+
+The first parameter must contain the format, the second parameter must
+contain the date as a Unix timestamp.
+
+Supported formats:
+
++----------------+------------------------+-----------------------------------+
+| Constant | Description | Example |
++================+========================+===================================+
+| DATE_ATOM | Atom | 2005-08-15T16:13:03+0000 |
++----------------+------------------------+-----------------------------------+
+| DATE_COOKIE | HTTP Cookies | Sun, 14 Aug 2005 16:13:03 UTC |
++----------------+------------------------+-----------------------------------+
+| DATE_ISO8601 | ISO-8601 | 2005-08-14T16:13:03+00:00 |
++----------------+------------------------+-----------------------------------+
+| DATE_RFC822 | RFC 822 | Sun, 14 Aug 05 16:13:03 UTC |
++----------------+------------------------+-----------------------------------+
+| DATE_RFC850 | RFC 850 | Sunday, 14-Aug-05 16:13:03 UTC |
++----------------+------------------------+-----------------------------------+
+| DATE_RFC1036 | RFC 1036 | Sunday, 14-Aug-05 16:13:03 UTC |
++----------------+------------------------+-----------------------------------+
+| DATE_RFC1123 | RFC 1123 | Sun, 14 Aug 2005 16:13:03 UTC |
++----------------+------------------------+-----------------------------------+
+| DATE_RFC2822 | RFC 2822 | Sun, 14 Aug 2005 16:13:03 +0000 |
++----------------+------------------------+-----------------------------------+
+| DATE_RSS | RSS | Sun, 14 Aug 2005 16:13:03 UTC |
++----------------+------------------------+-----------------------------------+
+| DATE_W3C | W3C | 2005-08-14T16:13:03+0000 |
++----------------+------------------------+-----------------------------------+
+
+
+local_to_gmt()
+==============
+
+Takes a Unix timestamp as input and returns it as GMT.
+
+.. php:method:: local_to_gmt($time = '')
+
+ :param integer $time: Unix timestamp
+ :returns: string
+
+Example:
+
+::
+
+ $now = time();
+ $gmt = local_to_gmt($now);
+
+gmt_to_local()
+==============
+
+Takes a Unix timestamp (referenced to GMT) as input, and converts it to
+a localized timestamp based on the timezone and Daylight Saving time
+submitted.
+
+.. php:method:: gmt_to_local($time = '', $timezone = 'UTC', $dst = FALSE)
+
+ :param integer $time: Unix timestamp
+ :param string $timezone: timezone
+ :param boolean $dst: whether DST is active
+ :returns: integer
+
+Example
+
+::
+
+ $timestamp = '1140153693';
+ $timezone = 'UM8';
+ $daylight_saving = TRUE;
+ echo gmt_to_local($timestamp, $timezone, $daylight_saving);
+
+
+.. note:: For a list of timezones see the reference at the bottom of this page.
+
+
+mysql_to_unix()
+===============
+
+Takes a MySQL Timestamp as input and returns it as Unix.
+
+.. php:method:: mysql_to_unix($time = '')
+
+ :param integer $time: Unix timestamp
+ :returns: integer
+
+Example
+
+::
+
+ $mysql = '20061124092345'; $unix = mysql_to_unix($mysql);
+
+unix_to_human()
+===============
+
+Takes a Unix timestamp as input and returns it in a human readable
+format with this prototype
+
+.. php:method:: unix_to_human($time = '', $seconds = FALSE, $fmt = 'us')
+
+ :param integer $time: Unix timestamp
+ :param boolean $seconds: whether to show seconds
+ :param string $fmt: format: us or euro
+ :returns: integer
+
+Example
+
+::
+
+ YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS AM/PM
+
+This can be useful if you need to display a date in a form field for
+submission.
+
+The time can be formatted with or without seconds, and it can be set to
+European or US format. If only the timestamp is submitted it will return
+the time without seconds formatted for the U.S. Examples
+
+::
+
+ $now = time();
+ echo unix_to_human($now); // U.S. time, no seconds
+ echo unix_to_human($now, TRUE, 'us'); // U.S. time with seconds
+ echo unix_to_human($now, TRUE, 'eu'); // Euro time with seconds
+
+human_to_unix()
+===============
+
+The opposite of the above function. Takes a "human" time as input and
+returns it as Unix. This function is useful if you accept "human"
+formatted dates submitted via a form. Returns FALSE (boolean) if the
+date string passed to it is not formatted as indicated above.
+
+.. php:method:: human_to_unix($datestr = '')
+
+ :param integer $datestr: Date String
+ :returns: integer
+
+Example:
+
+::
+
+ $now = time();
+ $human = unix_to_human($now);
+ $unix = human_to_unix($human);
+
+nice_date()
+===========
+
+This function can take a number poorly-formed date formats and convert
+them into something useful. It also accepts well-formed dates.
+
+The function will return a Unix timestamp by default. You can,
+optionally, pass a format string (the same type as the PHP date function
+accepts) as the second parameter.
+
+.. php:method:: nice_date($bad_date = '', $format = FALSE)
+
+ :param integer $bad_date: The terribly formatted date-like string
+ :param string $format: Date format to return (same as php date function)
+ :returns: string
+
+Example
+
+::
+
+ $bad_time = 199605 // Should Produce: 1996-05-01
+ $better_time = nice_date($bad_time,'Y-m-d');
+ $bad_time = 9-11-2001 // Should Produce: 2001-09-11
+ $better_time = nice_date($human,'Y-m-d');
+
+timespan()
+==========
+
+Formats a unix timestamp so that is appears similar to this
+
+::
+
+ 1 Year, 10 Months, 2 Weeks, 5 Days, 10 Hours, 16 Minutes
+
+The first parameter must contain a Unix timestamp. The second parameter
+must contain a timestamp that is greater that the first timestamp. If
+the second parameter empty, the current time will be used. The most
+common purpose for this function is to show how much time has elapsed
+from some point in time in the past to now.
+
+.. php:method:: timespan($seconds = 1, $time = '')
+
+ :param integer $seconds: a number of seconds
+ :param string $time: Unix timestamp
+ :returns: string
+
+Example
+
+::
+
+ $post_date = '1079621429';
+ $now = time();
+ echo timespan($post_date, $now);
+
+.. note:: The text generated by this function is found in the following language
+ file: language/<your_lang>/date_lang.php
+
+days_in_month()
+===============
+
+Returns the number of days in a given month/year. Takes leap years into
+account.
+
+.. php:method:: days_in_month($month = 0, $year = '')
+
+ :param integer $month: a numeric month
+ :param integer $year: a numeric year
+ :returns: integer
+
+Example
+
+::
+
+ echo days_in_month(06, 2005);
+
+If the second parameter is empty, the current year will be used.
+
+timezones()
+===========
+
+Takes a timezone reference (for a list of valid timezones, see the
+"Timezone Reference" below) and returns the number of hours offset from
+UTC.
+
+.. php:method:: timezones($tz = '')
+
+ :param string $tz: a numeric timezone
+ :returns: string
+
+Example
+
+::
+
+ echo timezones('UM5');
+
+
+This function is useful when used with `timezone_menu()`.
+
+timezone_menu()
+===============
+
+Generates a pull-down menu of timezones, like this one:
+
+
+.. raw:: html
+
+ <form action="#">
+ <select name="timezones">
+ <option value='UM12'>(UTC - 12:00) Enitwetok, Kwajalien</option>
+ <option value='UM11'>(UTC - 11:00) Nome, Midway Island, Samoa</option>
+ <option value='UM10'>(UTC - 10:00) Hawaii</option>
+ <option value='UM9'>(UTC - 9:00) Alaska</option>
+ <option value='UM8'>(UTC - 8:00) Pacific Time</option>
+ <option value='UM7'>(UTC - 7:00) Mountain Time</option>
+ <option value='UM6'>(UTC - 6:00) Central Time, Mexico City</option>
+ <option value='UM5'>(UTC - 5:00) Eastern Time, Bogota, Lima, Quito</option>
+ <option value='UM4'>(UTC - 4:00) Atlantic Time, Caracas, La Paz</option>
+ <option value='UM25'>(UTC - 3:30) Newfoundland</option>
+ <option value='UM3'>(UTC - 3:00) Brazil, Buenos Aires, Georgetown, Falkland Is.</option>
+ <option value='UM2'>(UTC - 2:00) Mid-Atlantic, Ascention Is., St Helena</option>
+ <option value='UM1'>(UTC - 1:00) Azores, Cape Verde Islands</option>
+ <option value='UTC' selected='selected'>(UTC) Casablanca, Dublin, Edinburgh, London, Lisbon, Monrovia</option>
+ <option value='UP1'>(UTC + 1:00) Berlin, Brussels, Copenhagen, Madrid, Paris, Rome</option>
+ <option value='UP2'>(UTC + 2:00) Kaliningrad, South Africa, Warsaw</option>
+ <option value='UP3'>(UTC + 3:00) Baghdad, Riyadh, Moscow, Nairobi</option>
+ <option value='UP25'>(UTC + 3:30) Tehran</option>
+ <option value='UP4'>(UTC + 4:00) Adu Dhabi, Baku, Muscat, Tbilisi</option>
+ <option value='UP35'>(UTC + 4:30) Kabul</option>
+ <option value='UP5'>(UTC + 5:00) Islamabad, Karachi, Tashkent</option>
+ <option value='UP45'>(UTC + 5:30) Bombay, Calcutta, Madras, New Delhi</option>
+ <option value='UP6'>(UTC + 6:00) Almaty, Colomba, Dhaka</option>
+ <option value='UP7'>(UTC + 7:00) Bangkok, Hanoi, Jakarta</option>
+ <option value='UP8'>(UTC + 8:00) Beijing, Hong Kong, Perth, Singapore, Taipei</option>
+ <option value='UP9'>(UTC + 9:00) Osaka, Sapporo, Seoul, Tokyo, Yakutsk</option>
+ <option value='UP85'>(UTC + 9:30) Adelaide, Darwin</option>
+ <option value='UP10'>(UTC + 10:00) Melbourne, Papua New Guinea, Sydney, Vladivostok</option>
+ <option value='UP11'>(UTC + 11:00) Magadan, New Caledonia, Solomon Islands</option>
+ <option value='UP12'>(UTC + 12:00) Auckland, Wellington, Fiji, Marshall Island</option>
+ </select>
+ </form>
+
+
+This menu is useful if you run a membership site in which your users are
+allowed to set their local timezone value.
+
+The first parameter lets you set the "selected" state of the menu. For
+example, to set Pacific time as the default you will do this
+
+.. php:method:: timezone_menu($default = 'UTC', $class = "", $name = 'timezones')
+
+ :param string $default: timezone
+ :param string $class: classname
+ :param string $name: menu name
+ :returns: string
+
+Example:
+
+::
+
+ echo timezone_menu('UM8');
+
+Please see the timezone reference below to see the values of this menu.
+
+The second parameter lets you set a CSS class name for the menu.
+
+.. note:: The text contained in the menu is found in the following
+ language file: `language/<your_lang>/date_lang.php`
+
+
+Timezone Reference
+==================
+
+The following table indicates each timezone and its location.
+
++------------+----------------------------------------------------------------+
+| Time Zone | Location |
++============+================================================================+
+| UM12 | (UTC - 12:00) Enitwetok, Kwajalien |
++------------+----------------------------------------------------------------+
+| UM11 | (UTC - 11:00) Nome, Midway Island, Samoa |
++------------+----------------------------------------------------------------+
+| UM10 | (UTC - 10:00) Hawaii |
++------------+----------------------------------------------------------------+
+| UM9 | (UTC - 9:00) Alaska |
++------------+----------------------------------------------------------------+
+| UM8 | (UTC - 8:00) Pacific Time |
++------------+----------------------------------------------------------------+
+| UM7 | (UTC - 7:00) Mountain Time |
++------------+----------------------------------------------------------------+
+| UM6 | (UTC - 6:00) Central Time, Mexico City |
++------------+----------------------------------------------------------------+
+| UM5 | (UTC - 5:00) Eastern Time, Bogota, Lima, Quito |
++------------+----------------------------------------------------------------+
+| UM4 | (UTC - 4:00) Atlantic Time, Caracas, La Paz |
++------------+----------------------------------------------------------------+
+| UM25 | (UTC - 3:30) Newfoundland |
++------------+----------------------------------------------------------------+
+| UM3 | (UTC - 3:00) Brazil, Buenos Aires, Georgetown, Falkland Is. |
++------------+----------------------------------------------------------------+
+| UM2 | (UTC - 2:00) Mid-Atlantic, Ascention Is., St Helena |
++------------+----------------------------------------------------------------+
+| UM1 | (UTC - 1:00) Azores, Cape Verde Islands |
++------------+----------------------------------------------------------------+
+| UTC | (UTC) Casablanca, Dublin, Edinburgh, London, Lisbon, Monrovia |
++------------+----------------------------------------------------------------+
+| UP1 | (UTC + 1:00) Berlin, Brussels, Copenhagen, Madrid, Paris, Rome |
++------------+----------------------------------------------------------------+
+| UP2 | (UTC + 2:00) Kaliningrad, South Africa, Warsaw |
++------------+----------------------------------------------------------------+
+| UP3 | (UTC + 3:00) Baghdad, Riyadh, Moscow, Nairobi |
++------------+----------------------------------------------------------------+
+| UP25 | (UTC + 3:30) Tehran |
++------------+----------------------------------------------------------------+
+| UP4 | (UTC + 4:00) Adu Dhabi, Baku, Muscat, Tbilisi |
++------------+----------------------------------------------------------------+
+| UP35 | (UTC + 4:30) Kabul |
++------------+----------------------------------------------------------------+
+| UP5 | (UTC + 5:00) Islamabad, Karachi, Tashkent |
++------------+----------------------------------------------------------------+
+| UP45 | (UTC + 5:30) Bombay, Calcutta, Madras, New Delhi |
++------------+----------------------------------------------------------------+
+| UP6 | (UTC + 6:00) Almaty, Colomba, Dhaka |
++------------+----------------------------------------------------------------+
+| UP7 | (UTC + 7:00) Bangkok, Hanoi, Jakarta |
++------------+----------------------------------------------------------------+
+| UP8 | (UTC + 8:00) Beijing, Hong Kong, Perth, Singapore, Taipei |
++------------+----------------------------------------------------------------+
+| UP9 | (UTC + 9:00) Osaka, Sapporo, Seoul, Tokyo, Yakutsk |
++------------+----------------------------------------------------------------+
+| UP85 | (UTC + 9:30) Adelaide, Darwin |
++------------+----------------------------------------------------------------+
+| UP10 | (UTC + 10:00) Melbourne, Papua New Guinea, Sydney, Vladivostok |
++------------+----------------------------------------------------------------+
+| UP11 | (UTC + 11:00) Magadan, New Caledonia, Solomon Islands |
++------------+----------------------------------------------------------------+
+| UP12 | (UTC + 12:00) Auckland, Wellington, Fiji, Marshall Island |
++------------+----------------------------------------------------------------+