Added native support for Python's datetime object

Now you can make up your Telegram Requests by using
the built-in `datetime` instead of manually parsing it

parser/tlobject.py

@@ -130,8 +130,8 @@ class TLArg:
             self.is_generic = False
         else:
             self.flag_indicator = False
-            self.type = type.lstrip('!')  # Strip the exclamation mark always to have only the name
             self.is_generic = type.startswith('!')
+            self.type = type.lstrip('!')  # Strip the exclamation mark always to have only the name
 
             # The type may be a flag (flags.IDX?REAL_TYPE)
             # Note that «flags» is NOT the flags name; this is determined by a previous argument
@@ -148,6 +148,12 @@ class TLArg:
                 self.is_vector = True
                 self.type = vector_match.group(1)  # Update the type to match the one inside the vector
 
+            # The name may contain "date" in it, if this is the case and the type is "int",
+            # we can safely assume that this should be treated as a "date" object.
+            # Note that this is not a valid Telegram object, but it's easier to work with
+            if re.search(r'(\b|_)date\b', name) and self.type == 'int':
+                self.type = 'date'
+
         self.generic_definition = generic_definition
 
     def __str__(self):

tl/telegram_client.py

@@ -148,10 +148,10 @@ class TelegramClient:
     def get_dialogs(self, count=10, offset_date=None, offset_id=0, offset_peer=InputPeerEmpty()):
         """Returns a tuple of lists ([dialogs], [displays], [input_peers]) with 'count' items each"""
 
-        r = self.invoke(GetDialogsRequest(offset_date=TelegramClient.get_tg_date(offset_date),
-                                               offset_id=offset_id,
-                                               offset_peer=offset_peer,
-                                               limit=count))
+        r = self.invoke(GetDialogsRequest(offset_date=offset_date,
+                                          offset_id=offset_id,
+                                          offset_peer=offset_peer,
+                                          limit=count))
 
         return (r.dialogs,
                 [self.find_display_name(d.peer, r.users, r.chats) for d in r.dialogs],
@@ -188,7 +188,7 @@ class TelegramClient:
         """
         result = self.invoke(GetHistoryRequest(input_peer,
                                                limit=limit,
-                                               offset_date=self.get_tg_date(offset_date),
+                                               offset_date=offset_date,
                                                offset_id=offset_id,
                                                max_id=max_id,
                                                min_id=min_id,
@@ -198,7 +198,7 @@ class TelegramClient:
         # simply a messages TLObject. In the later case, no "count" attribute is specified:
         # the total messages count is retrieved by counting all the retrieved messages
         total_messages = getattr(result, 'count', len(result.messages))
-        
+
         return (total_messages,
                 result.messages,
                 [usr  # Create a list with the users...
@@ -220,11 +220,6 @@ class TelegramClient:
 
     # region Utilities
 
-    @staticmethod
-    def get_tg_date(datetime):
-        """Parses a datetime Python object to Telegram's required integer Unix timestamp"""
-        return 0 if datetime is None else int(datetime.timestamp())
-
     @staticmethod
     def find_display_name(peer, users, chats):
         """Searches the display name for peer in both users and chats.

tl_generator.py

@@ -284,6 +284,9 @@ def write_onsend_code(builder, arg, args, name=None):
     elif 'bytes' == arg.type:
         builder.writeln('writer.write({})'.format(name))
 
+    elif 'date' == arg.type:  # Custom format
+        builder.writeln('writer.tgwrite_date({})'.format(name))
+
     else:
         # Else it may be a custom type
         builder.writeln('{}.on_send(writer)'.format(name))
@@ -364,6 +367,9 @@ def write_onresponse_code(builder, arg, args, name=None):
     elif 'bytes' == arg.type:
         builder.writeln('{} = reader.tgread_bytes()'.format(name))
 
+    elif 'date' == arg.type:  # Custom format
+        builder.writeln('{} = reader.tgread_date()'.format(name))
+
     else:
         # Else it may be a custom type
         builder.writeln('{} = reader.tgread_object()'.format(name))

utils/binary_reader.py

@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+from datetime import datetime
 from io import BytesIO, BufferedReader
 from tl.all_tlobjects import tlobjects
 from struct import unpack
@@ -95,6 +96,11 @@ class BinaryReader:
         else:
             raise ValueError('Invalid boolean code {}'.format(hex(value)))
 
+    def tgread_date(self):
+        """Reads and converts Unix time (used by Telegram) into a Python datetime object"""
+        value = self.read_int()
+        return None if value == 0 else datetime.fromtimestamp(value)
+
     def tgread_object(self):
         """Reads a Telegram object"""
         constructor_id = self.read_int(signed=False)

utils/binary_writer.py

@@ -83,12 +83,17 @@ class BinaryWriter:
 
     def tgwrite_string(self, string):
         """Write a string by using Telegram guidelines"""
-        return self.tgwrite_bytes(string.encode('utf-8'))
+        self.tgwrite_bytes(string.encode('utf-8'))
 
     def tgwrite_bool(self, boolean):
         """Write a boolean value by using Telegram guidelines"""
         #                     boolTrue                boolFalse
-        return self.write_int(0x997275b5 if boolean else 0xbc799737, signed=False)
+        self.write_int(0x997275b5 if boolean else 0xbc799737, signed=False)
+
+    def tgwrite_date(self, datetime):
+        """Converts a Python datetime object into Unix time (used by Telegram) and writes it"""
+        value = 0 if datetime is None else int(datetime.timestamp())
+        self.write_int(value)
 
     # endregion