[SOLVED] String Concatenation in .Lua File

[Colorado]

Hey all, first time posting on Rainmeter forums

I'm adjusting the Google Calendar skin and I'm almost 100% done.
(https://visualskins.com/skin/google-calendar)

*Going to pretend like I know what I'm talking about for this next piece*
Looks to me like Reader.lua is responsible for scraping Google Calendar information then passing it to Gcalendar.ini in two strings
I'm unsure if this solution is best accomplished through a modification of the Gcalendar.ini or the Reader.lua

What I want to do is concatenate the Item1Date, Item2Date, etc so that only the the last 6 characters ("Sep 02" for example) are kept.
See the image below. I'd like just the Month and Day to display.


Relevant places:
1. The string, I believe, is produced on Line #268 in Reader.lua
2. The string is utilized on Line #319 and onwards in Gcalendar.ini

I'm new to Rainmeter and tried some things to concatenate the string but they failed.
I tried to do stuff like "RegExpSubstitute", but I think it failed because this is done somewhere else and not in a Meter=String area.
Unsure about this. Feel free to educate a noob, would love to understand what's going on.

This forum reminds me a lot of the AHK forums upon first glance.
Thank you for your time!

~DH

[balala]

What I want to do is concatenate the Item1Date, Item2Date, etc so that only the the last 6 characters ("Sep 02" for example) are kept.
See the image below. I'd like just the Month and Day to display.

There is no need to work with the Reader.lua script file or concatenate strings in a such simple case. Just have to add a Hidden=1 option to each of the [ItemWhat1] - [ItemWhat8] meters.
This solution has the advantage that if anytime later you change your mind and want to add those strings back, you just have to remove the added Hidden=1 options (or rewrite them as Hidden=0).

[Colorado]

There is no need to work with the Reader.lua script file or concatenate strings in a such simple case. Just have to add a Hidden=1 option to each of the [ItemWhat1] - [ItemWhat8] meters.
This solution has the advantage that if anytime later you change your mind and want to add those strings back, you just have to remove the added Hidden=1 options (or rewrite them as Hidden=0).

When I add Hidden=1 to the [ItemWhen1] meter, it does not display the string whatsoever.
I'm looking to keep the last six digits of the Item1Date string.
For example, "Aug 06" should be kept.

Image of your proposed change:

[balala]

When I add Hidden=1 to the [ItemWhen1] meter, it does not display the string whatsoever.
I'm looking to keep the last six digits of the Item1Date string.

Right, my mistake, sorry.
Instead of [ItemWhen1] - [ItemWhen8], add the Hidden=1 option to the [ItemWhat1] - [ItemWhat8] meters.
Sorry again for the confusion. Definitely my fault.

[Colorado]

Right, my mistake, sorry.
Instead of [ItemWhen1] - [ItemWhen8], add the Hidden=1 option to the [ItemWhat1] - [ItemWhat8] meters.
Sorry again for the confusion. Definitely my fault.

Not looking to hide strings.
I'm looking to shorten the Item1Date, Item2Date, Item3Date, etc etc etc only.

Second proposed change:

[balala]

Not looking to hide strings.
I'm looking to shorten the Item1Date, Item2Date, Item3Date, etc etc etc only.

Sorry again I misunderstood you. Now I suppose I understood your intention. If I'm not wrong again somehow, you have to modify a line of the Reader.lua script file. Replace the function local Timestamp = SELF:GetOption('Timestamp', '%I:%M %p %A %b %d') line with the shorter local Timestamp = SELF:GetOption('Timestamp', '%b %d') (Output() function). This command sets the format of the returned dates. The initial %I:%M %p %A %b %d format meant in order: hour, in 12-hours format (%I), minutes (%M), either "am" or "pm" (%p), full weekday name (%A), abreviated month name (%b) and finally day of month (%d). This format is now modified to %b %d, which means abreviated month name and day of month.
Here are the usable date formats in lua: https://www.lua.org/pil/22.1.html
Is it ok now?

[Colorado]

Sorry again I misunderstood you. Now I suppose I understood your intention. If I'm not wrong again somehow, you have to modify a line of the Reader.lua script file. Replace the function local Timestamp = SELF:GetOption('Timestamp', '%I:%M %p %A %b %d') line with the shorter local Timestamp = SELF:GetOption('Timestamp', '%b %d') (Output() function). This command sets the format of the returned dates. The initial %I:%M %p %A %b %d format meant in order: hour, in 12-hours format (%I), minutes (%M), either "am" or "pm" (%p), full weekday name (%A), abreviated month name (%b) and finally day of month (%d). This format is now modified to %b %d, which means abreviated month name and day of month.
Here are the usable date formats in lua: https://www.lua.org/pil/22.1.html
Is it ok now?

THANK YOU

This is now solved.
Picture of the final product:

[eclectic-tech]

Hope things go well for you tomorrow at Dr. Rog's

[Colorado]

Hope things go well for you tomorrow at Dr. Rog's

Thanks.
Finger's been dislocated for like 2 months.
He'll need to snap it into place or surgery.
Three Cheers for Science

[balala]

This is now solved.

I'm glad. Sorry again I misunderstood you.