added support for different date formats in datetime fields

ECOM- 7725

course_discovery/apps/publisher/tests/test_utils.py

 """ Tests publisher.utils"""
+from datetime import datetime
+
 import ddt
 from django.contrib.auth.models import Group
 from django.core.urlresolvers import reverse
@@ -16,7 +18,7 @@ from course_discovery.apps.publisher.tests import factories
 from course_discovery.apps.publisher.utils import (get_internal_users, has_role_for_course,
                                                    is_email_notification_enabled, is_internal_user,
                                                    is_project_coordinator_user, is_publisher_admin, is_publisher_user,
-                                                   make_bread_crumbs)
+                                                   make_bread_crumbs, parse_datetime_field)
 
 
 @ddt.ddt
@@ -204,3 +206,26 @@ class PublisherUtilsTests(TestCase):
         self.assertFalse(has_role_for_course(self.course, self.user))
         factories.CourseUserRoleFactory(course=self.course, user=self.user)
         self.assertTrue(has_role_for_course(self.course, self.user))
+
+    @ddt.data(
+        'april 20, 2017',
+        'aug 20 2019',
+        '2020 may 20',
+        '09 04 2018',
+        'jan 20 2020'
+    )
+    def test_parse_datetime_field(self, date):
+        """ Verify that function return datetime after parsing different possible date format. """
+        parsed_date = parse_datetime_field(date)
+        self.assertTrue(isinstance(parsed_date, datetime))
+
+    @ddt.data(
+        None,
+        'jan 20 20203'
+        'invalid-date-string'
+        'jan 20'
+    )
+    def test_parse_datetime_field_with_invalid_date_format(self, invalid_date):
+        """ Verify that function return None if date string does not match any possible date format. """
+        parsed_date = parse_datetime_field(invalid_date)
+        self.assertIsNone(parsed_date)

course_discovery/apps/publisher/utils.py

 """ Publisher Utils."""
+from dateutil import parser
 from course_discovery.apps.core.models import User
 from course_discovery.apps.publisher.constants import (ADMIN_GROUP_NAME, INTERNAL_USER_GROUP_NAME,
                                                        PROJECT_COORDINATOR_GROUP_NAME)
@@ -107,3 +108,23 @@ def has_role_for_course(course, user):
         bool: True, if user has a role for course; otherwise, False.
     """
     return course.course_user_roles.filter(user=user).exists()
+
+
+def parse_datetime_field(date):
+    """
+    Parse datetime field to make same format YYYY-MM-DD 00:00:00.
+
+    Arguments:
+        date (str): date string in any possible format
+
+    Returns:
+        datetime (object): returns datetime object after parsing
+    """
+    if not date:
+        return
+
+    try:
+        return parser.parse(date)
+
+    except ValueError:
+        return

course_discovery/apps/publisher/views.py

@@ -25,7 +25,8 @@ from course_discovery.apps.publisher.forms import CustomCourseForm, CustomCourse
 from course_discovery.apps.publisher.models import (Course, CourseRun, CourseRunState, CourseState, CourseUserRole,
                                                     OrganizationExtension, UserAttributes)
 from course_discovery.apps.publisher.utils import (get_internal_users, has_role_for_course, is_internal_user,
-                                                   is_project_coordinator_user, is_publisher_admin, make_bread_crumbs)
+                                                   is_project_coordinator_user, is_publisher_admin, make_bread_crumbs,
+                                                   parse_datetime_field)
 from course_discovery.apps.publisher.wrappers import CourseRunWrapper
 
 logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
@@ -237,6 +238,10 @@ class CreateCourseView(mixins.LoginRequiredMixin, mixins.PublisherUserRequiredMi
         # choices into institution admin field
         user = self.request.user
         organization = self.request.POST.get('organization')
+
+        self.request.POST['start'] = parse_datetime_field(self.request.POST.get('start'))
+        self.request.POST['end'] = parse_datetime_field(self.request.POST.get('end'))
+
         course_form = self.course_form(
             request.POST, request.FILES, user=user, organization=organization
         )
@@ -484,6 +489,10 @@ class CreateCourseRunView(mixins.LoginRequiredMixin, CreateView):
     def post(self, request, *args, **kwargs):
         user = request.user
         parent_course = self.get_parent_course()
+
+        self.request.POST['start'] = parse_datetime_field(self.request.POST.get('start'))
+        self.request.POST['end'] = parse_datetime_field(self.request.POST.get('end'))
+
         run_form = self.run_form(request.POST, initial={'contacted_partner_manager': False})
         seat_form = self.seat_form(request.POST)
 
@@ -573,6 +582,10 @@ class CourseRunEditView(mixins.LoginRequiredMixin, mixins.PublisherPermissionMix
         context = self.get_context_data()
         course_run = context.get('course_run')
         lms_course_id = course_run.lms_course_id
+
+        self.request.POST['start'] = parse_datetime_field(self.request.POST.get('start'))
+        self.request.POST['end'] = parse_datetime_field(self.request.POST.get('end'))
+
         run_form = self.run_form(
             request.POST, instance=course_run, is_project_coordinator=context.get('is_project_coordinator')
         )