module Sinatra::Helpers

def time_for(value)

if 1.8 support is dropped.
This can be removed and calls to it replaced with to_time,
Ruby 1.8 has no #to_time method. 
def time_for(value)
  if value.respond_to? :to_time
    value.to_time
  elsif value.is_a? Time
    value
  elsif value.respond_to? :new_offset
    # DateTime#to_time does the same on 1.9
    d = value.new_offset 0
    t = Time.utc d.year, d.mon, d.mday, d.hour, d.min, d.sec + d.sec_fraction
    t.getlocal
  elsif value.respond_to? :mday
    # Date#to_time does the same on 1.9
    Time.local(value.year, value.mon, value.mday)
  elsif value.is_a? Numeric
    Time.at value
  else
    Time.parse value.to_s
  end
rescue ArgumentError => boom
  raise boom
rescue Exception
  raise ArgumentError, "unable to convert #{value.inspect} to a Time object"
end