# Input value - how to use helper

**URL:** <https://discuss.emberjs.com/t/input-value-how-to-use-helper/14595>\
**Category:** Learning Team\
**Created:** [April 20, 2018, 12:48pm UTC](https://discuss.emberjs.com/t/input-value-how-to-use-helper/14595 "2018-04-20T12:48:24Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![belgoros](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/discuss.emberjs.com/belgoros/32/16101_2.png) [@belgoros](https://discuss.emberjs.com/u/belgoros)\
**Post date:** [April 20, 2018, 12:48pm UTC](https://discuss.emberjs.com/t/input-value-how-to-use-helper/14595/1 "2018-04-20T12:48:24Z")

</div>

I can’t find any information not figure out myself how to use a helper (or may there a better solution) to format the values I get from the backend.

So, I’m getting time durations in milliseconds, for ex.:

```auto
24737068
56597481, etc.

```

I tried to format/transform the values so that to be able to display them in inputs of type `time` in `HH:mm` format.

Here is the helper:

```auto
# helpers/human-time.js

import { helper } from '@ember/component/helper';
import moment from 'moment';

export function humanTime(millis) {
  if (typeof millis != 'undefined' && millis) {
    console.log(millis + ': ' + moment.utc(moment.duration(millis).asMilliseconds()).format('HH:mm'));
    return moment.utc(moment.duration(millis).asMilliseconds()).format('HH:mm');
  } else {
    console.log('else: ' + millis);
    return '';
  }
}

export default helper(humanTime);

```

Here is how I tried (with no success) to call it in a template:

```auto
# templates/components/weekday-row.hbs
<div class="col-sm-2">
    {{input type="time"
      class="form-control"
      min="06:00"
      max="22:00"
      disabled=isClosed
      pattern="[0-9]{2}:[0-9]{2}"
      value=(human-time dayRow.opens)
    }}

```

When I call the same formatting code defined in the helper from the Chrome console, it works as needed:

```auto
# Chrome console

moment.utc(moment.duration(56597481).asMilliseconds()).format('HH:mm');
=> "15:43"

```

- What’s wrong with that ?
- Is the syntax used in the template is correct ?
- It seems like it is an array that is passed in to the helper instead of a single value and I never enter the `else` condition:

```auto
console.log('millis: ' + millis[0]);
=> undefined

```

Thank you.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![locks](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/discuss.emberjs.com/locks/32/3878_2.png) [@locks](https://discuss.emberjs.com/u/locks)\
**Post date:** [April 20, 2018, 1:43pm UTC](https://discuss.emberjs.com/t/input-value-how-to-use-helper/14595/2 "2018-04-20T13:43:28Z")

</div>

> [@belgoros](#):
>
> It seems like it is an array that is passed in to the helper instead of a single value and I never enter the else condition:

Yes, the first argument is an array of positional parameters sent to the helper. You can check the [Writing Helpers](https://guides.emberjs.com/v3.1.0/templates/writing-helpers/#toc_helper-arguments) guide for more information.

Changing it to `export function humanTime([millis]) {` should fix it.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![belgoros](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/discuss.emberjs.com/belgoros/32/16101_2.png) [@belgoros](https://discuss.emberjs.com/u/belgoros)\
**Post date:** [April 20, 2018, 2:00pm UTC](https://discuss.emberjs.com/t/input-value-how-to-use-helper/14595/3 "2018-04-20T14:00:01Z")

</div>

Yep, thank you for your help, - once again it got out of my head 🙂Finally, I opted to use a trasform: I’m getting milliseconds from Rails and display them as `HH:mm`:

```auto
# trasforms/human-time.js

import DS from 'ember-data';
import moment from 'moment';

export default DS.Transform.extend({
  deserialize(serialized) {
    return moment.utc(moment.duration(serialized).asMilliseconds()).format('HH:mm');
  },

  serialize(deserialized) {
    return moment.duration(deserialized).asMilliseconds();
  }
});

```

and I removed the previously used helper and its call from the template.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![knownasilya](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/discuss.emberjs.com/knownasilya/32/12912_2.png) [@knownasilya](https://discuss.emberjs.com/u/knownasilya)\
**Post date:** [April 20, 2018, 3:14pm UTC](https://discuss.emberjs.com/t/input-value-how-to-use-helper/14595/4 "2018-04-20T15:14:31Z")

</div>

An alternative solution (if you want to preserve the original value from the server for example) is to add a computed property on your model that depends on your raw field and returns a new value based on that raw data.