Can I customize timestamp data?

[ericuldall]

I'm integrating payload into an already active data model.

The good:
We already use createdAt and updatedAt as our timestamp fields

The Bad:
We store them as an integer rather than a Date object

Is there some way to change payload defaults to read/write those as integers?

[ericuldall]

UPDATE:
It looks like the CMS reads my timestamps fine, but I need a way to override the Date object when creating/updating documents from inside of the CMS.

Looking at global hooks, does that seem like the way?

Can't find docs on where to implement global hooks. Any helps is appreciated.

[ericuldall]

Now trying a custom field with field hooks like so:

import { Field } from 'payload/types';

const CreatedAt: Field = {
  name: 'createdAt',
  type: 'date',
  admin: {
    date: {
      pickerAppearance: 'dayAndTime'
    }
  },
  hooks: {
    afterRead: [(args) => {
      return new Date(args.value);
    }],
    beforeChange: [(args) => {
      return (new Date(args.value)).getTime();
    }],
    afterChange: [(args) => {
      return new Date(args.value);
    }]
  }
}

export default CreatedAt;

So this is pretty cool and almost works. I get the date rendered in a date field in the object (i'll probably hide it later), but when I save I get an error complaining about it being a number, but from my understanding it should pass validation before I convert it to a number in the beforeChange hook.

Any idea why that happens?

[ericuldall]

I got it working!

import { Field } from 'payload/types';

const CreatedAt: Field = {
  name: 'createdAt',
  type: 'number',
  admin: {
    disabled: true,
  },
  hooks: {
    beforeChange: [(args) => {
      if (args.operation == 'create') {
        return (new Date).getTime();
      }
    }]
  }
}

export default CreatedAt;

[JarrodMFlesch]

Nice work @ericuldall, way to keep after it 👊 you can override updatedAt, createdAt and id if you provide your own fields with the same names - like you found out.

[JarrodMFlesch]

Also - are you in our discord? You should totally join, we're an active bunch over there: https://discord.com/invite/payload

[ericuldall]

I'll join up. Thanks!