title: How to use Chronic to parse dates in a datetime text_field
body: <p>I'm trying to get a text field that my users can enter in something that is parsable by the Chronic gem. Here is my model file:</p>
  
  <pre><code>require 'chronic'
  
  class Event &lt; ActiveRecord::Base
    belongs_to :user
  
    validates_presence_of :e_time
    before_validation :parse_date
  
    def parse_date
      self.e_time = Chronic.parse(self.e_time_before_type_cast) if self.e_time_before_type_cast
    end
  end
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>I think that it is being called because if I misspell something in parse_date, it complains that it doesn't exist. I've also tried before_save :parse_date, but that doesn't work either.</p>
  
  <p>How could I get this to work? </p>
  
  <p>Thanks</p>