[Tutor] date formatter

[Christopher Spears]

Hey,

I'm working on a problem out of Core Python Programming (2nd Edition).  Basically, I'm creating a class that formats dates.  Here is what I have so far:

#!/usr/bin/python

import time

class date_format(object):
	def __init__(self, month, day, year):
		month_dict = {("jan","january") : 1,
		              ("feb","february") :2,
			      ("mar", "march") : 3,
			      ("apr", "april") : 4,
			      ("may") : 5,
			      ("jun", "june") : 6,
			      ("jul", "july") : 7,
			      ("aug", "august") : 8,
			      ("sep", "september") : 9,
			      ("oct", "october"): 10,
			      ("nov", "november"): 11,
			      ("dec", "december"): 12
			      }
		try:
			month = int(month)
		except ValueError:
			for eachKey in month_dict.keys():
				if month.lower() in eachKey:
					month = month_dict[eachKey]
				else:
					month = ""
		if month=="" or day=="" or year=="":
			self.date =  time.localtime()
		else:
			self.date = (int(year), month, int(day), 0, 0, 0, 0, 1, -1)
	
	def display(self, format_indicator = None):
		if format_indicator == 'MDY':
			print time.strftime("%m/%d/%y",self.date)
		elif format_indicator == 'MDYY':
			print time.strftime("%m/%d/%Y",self.date)
		elif format_indicator == 'DMY':
			print time.strftime("%d/%m/%y",self.date)
		elif format_indicator == 'DMYY':
			print time.strftime("%d/%m/%Y",self.date)
		elif format_indicator == 'MODYY':
			print time.strftime("%b %d, %Y",self.date)
		else:
			print time.strftime("%a %b %d %Y",self.date)
		
			
if __name__ == "__main__":
	print "Welcome to the Date Formatter!"
	month = raw_input("Please enter a month: ")
	day = raw_input("Please enter a day: ")
	year = raw_input("Please enter a year: ")
	date_obj = date_format(month, day, year)
	format_indicator = raw_input("Enter a format indicator: ")
	date_obj.display(format_indicator.upper())

I am having trouble dealing with the case where the user actually types in a month's name instead of the number:
io at io-station-1 ./chap13 180> python date_format_v01.py

Welcome to the Date Formatter!
Please enter a month (as a number): Oct
Please enter a day: 31
Please enter a year: 1976
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "date_format_v01.py", line 53, in ?
    date_obj = date_format(month, day, year)
  File "date_format_v01.py", line 24, in __init__
    if month.lower() in eachKey:
AttributeError: 'int' object has no attribute 'lower'

Any suggestions?
-Chris