Algorithm to detect overlapping periods

Question

I've to detect if two time periods are overlapping.
Every period has a start date and an end date.
I need to detect if my first time period (A) is overlapping with another one(B/C).
In my case, if the start of B is equal to the end of A, they are not overlapping(the inverse too)
I found the following cases:

So actually I'm doing this like this:

tStartA < tStartB && tStartB < tEndA //For case 1
OR
tStartA < tEndB && tEndB <= tEndA //For case 2
OR
tStartB < tStartA  && tEndB > tEndA //For case 3

(The case 4 is taken in the account either in case 1 or in case 2)

It works, but it seems not very efficient.

So, first is there an existing class in c# that can modelize this(a time period), something like a timespan, but with a fixed start date.

Secondly: Is there already a c# code(like in the DateTime class) which can handle this?

Third: if no, what would be your approach to make this comparison the most fast?

Answer 1

There is a wonderful library with good reviews on CodeProject: http://www.codeproject.com/Articles/168662/Time-Period-Library-for-NET

That library does a lot of work concerning overlap, intersecting them, etc. It's too big to copy/paste all of it, but I'll see which specific parts which can be useful to you.

Answer 2

You can create a reusable Range pattern class :

public class Range<T> where T : IComparable
{
    readonly T min;
    readonly T max;

    public Range(T min, T max)
    {
        this.min = min;
        this.max = max;
    }

    public bool IsOverlapped(Range<T> other)
    {
        return Min.CompareTo(other.Max) < 0 && other.Min.CompareTo(Max) < 0;
    }

    public T Min { get { return min; } }
    public T Max { get { return max; } }
}

You can add all methods you need to merge ranges, get intersections and so on...

Answer 3

I don't believe that the framework itself has this class. Maybe a third-party library...

But why not create a Period value-object class to handle this complexity? That way you can ensure other constraints, like validating start vs end datetimes. Something like:

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;

namespace Whatever.Domain.Timing {
    public class Period {
        public DateTime StartDateTime {get; private set;}
        public DateTime EndDateTime {get; private set;}

        public Period(DateTime StartDateTime, DateTime EndDateTime) {
            if (StartDateTime > EndDateTime)
                throw new InvalidPeriodException("End DateTime Must Be Greater Than Start DateTime!");
            this.StartDateTime = StartDateTime;
            this.EndDateTime = EndDateTime;
        }


        public bool Overlaps(Period anotherPeriod){
            return (this.StartDateTime < anotherPeriod.EndDateTime && anotherPeriod.StartDateTime < this.EndDateTime)
        }

        public TimeSpan GetDuration(){
            return EndDateTime - StartDateTime;
        }

    }

    public class InvalidPeriodException : Exception {
        public InvalidPeriodException(string Message) : base(Message) { }    
    }
}

That way you will be able to individually compare each period...

Answer 4

This is my solution:

    public static bool OverlappingPeriods(DateTime aStart, DateTime aEnd, DateTime bStart, DateTime bEnd)
    {
        if (aStart > aEnd)
            throw new ArgumentException("A start can not be after its end.");

        if(bStart > bEnd)
            throw new ArgumentException("B start can not be after its end.");

        return !((aEnd < bStart && aStart < bStart) ||
                 (bEnd < aStart && bStart < aStart));
    }

I unit tested it with 100% coverage.

@Dushan Gajik, you seems to have bug in your last case - it sould be false.

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Answer 5

Simple check to see if two time periods overlap:

bool overlap = a.start < b.end && b.start < a.end;

or in your code:

bool overlap = tStartA < tEndB && tStartB < tEndA;

(Use <= instead of < if you change your mind about wanting to say that two periods that just touch each other overlap.)

Answer 6

How about a custom interval-tree structure? You'll have to tweak it a little bit to define what it means for two intervals to "overlap" in your domain.

This question might help you find an off-the-shelf interval-tree implementation in C#.