[BUG] EDTF formatter not handling unspecified years/months properly

[bondjimbond]

What steps does it take to reproduce the issue?

In the Date Issued field, enter some EDTF-valid dates with "unspecified" values. Rendered results are misleading and not clear. Use the sample dates below.

Sample dates:

• XXXX-XX-31: renders as "unspecified year and month in XXXX-31"
  • Month is lost altogether
  • Language is extremely unclear and confusing; should be "Day 31 in unspecified year and month" or similar
• XXXX-12-XX: renders as "unspecified year and day in XXXX-12"
  • Again, language extremely unclear
  • Should be something like "Unspecified year and day in December" or "in month 12" depending on config
• 156X-12-25: renders as "unspecified year in 156X-12-25"
  • Awkward construction, doesn't quite make sense
• 2004-%06-11: renders as "2004-06-11 (month uncertain; month approximate)"
  • Only one of these uncertain or approximate tags is needed
• 202X: Renders as "unspecified year in 202X"
  • Ideally would render as "unspecified year in 2020s"
• 20XX: Renders as "unspecified decade in 20XX"
  • Ideally would render as "unspecified decade in 2000s"

• When does this issue occur?

Most types of date where uncertainty is indicated.

• Which page does it occur on?

Repository Item nodes.

• To whom does it occur (anonymous visitor, editor, administrator)?

All users.

• What did you expect to happen?

See rendering descriptions under Steps.

Which version of Islandora are you using?

HEAD

Any related open or closed issues to this bug report?

None

Screenshots:

[DonRichards]

Example on our site the confirms this is an issue. https://digital.library.jhu.edu/islandora/photograph-painting-charles-morton-stewart
Output is unspecified year in 189X (year uncertain; year approximate)

[joshdentremont]

Just put in a PR for this (#134), that I think addresses all the above concerns, except for the % one, which I think is actually correct. If you don't want uncertain AND approximate, you should use ? or ~ instead.

From the EDTF specs:

The characters '?', '~' and '%' are used to mean "uncertain", "approximate", and "uncertain" as well as "approximate", respectively.

[seth-shaw-asu]

@bondjimbond, we just merged @joshdentremont's PR #134. Any other changes you would recommend before we close this issue?

[bondjimbond]

That's beautiful, thanks @joshdentremont.