From 9f4b5b37a3e1a938f40e53aae28cdf7853decad8 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Daniele Varrazzo <daniele.varrazzo@gmail.com>
Date: Tue, 18 Jun 2013 15:00:30 +0100
Subject: [PATCH] Added doc example to convert date.max to infinity

See issue #163.
---
 doc/src/extras.rst | 11 +++++++++++
 doc/src/usage.rst  | 35 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 2 files changed, 46 insertions(+)

diff --git a/doc/src/extras.rst b/doc/src/extras.rst
index 08767599..66369abd 100644
--- a/doc/src/extras.rst
+++ b/doc/src/extras.rst
@@ -453,6 +453,17 @@ automatically casted into instances of these classes.
 .. autoclass:: DateTimeRange
 .. autoclass:: DateTimeTZRange
 
+.. note::
+
+    Python lacks a representation for :sql:`infinity` date so Psycopg converts
+    the value to `date.max` and such. When written into the database these
+    dates will assume their literal value (e.g. :sql:`9999-12-31` instead of
+    :sql:`infinity`).  Check :ref:`infinite-dates-handling` for an example of
+    an alternative adapter to map `date.max` to :sql:`infinity`. An
+    alternative dates adapter will be used automatically by the `DateRange`
+    adapter and so on.
+
+
 Custom |range| types (created with |CREATE TYPE|_ :sql:`... AS RANGE`) can be
 adapted to a custom `Range` subclass:
 
diff --git a/doc/src/usage.rst b/doc/src/usage.rst
index 3321981b..f7ffd691 100644
--- a/doc/src/usage.rst
+++ b/doc/src/usage.rst
@@ -496,6 +496,7 @@ the same way::
 .. seealso:: `PostgreSQL date/time types
     <http://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/static/datatype-datetime.html>`__
 
+
 .. index::
     single: Time Zones
 
@@ -530,6 +531,40 @@ rounded to the nearest minute, with an error of up to 30 seconds.
     versions use `psycopg2.extras.register_tstz_w_secs()`.
 
 
+.. index::
+    double: Date Objects, Infinite
+
+.. _infinite-dates-handling:
+
+Infinite dates handling
+'''''''''''''''''''''''
+
+PostgreSQL can store the representation of an "infinite" date, timestamp, or
+interval. Infinite dates are not available to Python, so these objects are
+mapped to `!date.max`, `!datetime.max`, `!interval.max`. Unfortunately the
+mapping cannot be bidirectional so these dates will be stored back into the
+database with their values, such as :sql:`9999-12-31`.
+
+It is possible to create an alternative adapter for dates and other objects
+to map `date.max` to :sql:`infinity`, for instance::
+
+    class InfDateAdapter:
+        def __init__(self, wrapped):
+            self.wrapped = wrapped
+        def getquoted(self):
+            if self.wrapped == datetime.date.max:
+                return "'infinity'::date"
+            elif self.wrapped == datetime.date.min:
+                return "'-infinity'::date"
+            else:
+                return psycopg2.extensions.DateFromPy(self.wrapped).getquoted()
+
+    psycopg2.extensions.register_adapter(datetime.date, InfDateAdapter)
+
+Of course it will not be possible to write the value of `date.max` in the
+database anymore: :sql:`infinity` will be stored instead.
+
+
 .. _adapt-list:
 
 Lists adaptation