Date/Time Stamp on a memo type field

[acceptthis]

Is there a way to put a Date/Time Stamp on a memo type field? I want to be able to make notes in a field and be able to put a date/time stamp in the note.

[ecalan]

Re: Date/Time Stamp on a memo type field

I am far from an expert but I believe this is usually accomplished with a companion timestamp field that is set when the memo is created, updated or both(two timestamp fields) with the memo. To put the timestamp "in the note" as you suggested is probably doable with a complex script in a submit event to modify the user entry to add the current timestamp but that is probably not necessary.

[acceptthis]

Re: Date/Time Stamp on a memo type field

Eric,
Thanks for your reply. I wouldn't know how to reference the time stamp in a field. It's beyond me. This, however, is what I've done so far, and it seems to work. In the "onDblClick" event, I entered this code:

var hist = {grid.object}.getValue('D','HISTORY');
var currentDate = new Date();
hist = hist + currentDate;
{grid.Object}.setValue('D','HISTORY',hist);

When the user double clicks the field (HISTORY), it reads the current valve of the field, gets the current date and time, appends the date and time on the end of the HISTORY field, and writes it back into the field of the grid.
It works with a kinda irritating cosmetic issue. All the data I've inserted is highlighted. I assume there is a way to not highlight and then insert the cursor after the new date/time stamp, but I don't know JavaScript well enough and it's not that irritating to spend the hours it would take to figure it out.

[ecalan]

Re: Date/Time Stamp on a memo type field

Ya, that is the mildly complex JavaScript I thought would do it. If you are using MySQL, which is all I use, just add a time stamp field that will be created or updated (depending on the field setting) which will be auto filled by the dB server when the record is created or modified without any linked field from your app. Or, create a datetime field in the database with a field set to an initial value of now(). I do think trying to add the date to the data in the memo field is fraught with problems. For example, what happens if there is an edit to the note? Will there be multiple “stamps?”

[acceptthis]

Re: Date/Time Stamp on a memo type field

I'm a beginner with MySQL, so that's good to know. Thanks so much. Does this mean that the value of the stamp would be overwritten each time the field is updated? If that's the case, I wouldn't want to use it here. I want to show multiple stamps within the memo field for each time the user wants to write more to the note.

[Al Buchholz]

Re: Date/Time Stamp on a memo type field

Brad

You need to rethink your approach to this.

How you collect the data is much different from how you present the data.

If you want to restrict the changing of the datetimestamp, then it can't be part of the memo field.

Collect the data in a new child memo each time and then present all of the memos to the user.

You should also have a strict audit trail for this to ensure data integrity.

[acceptthis]

Re: Date/Time Stamp on a memo type field

Al,
Thanks for looking and your advise, and you're probably right. I was just trying to make it easy. Also, I figured if QuickBooks can get away with it, maybe I could as well. I'm getting this approach from QuickBooks in their invoice notes. If you want to add a note to an invoice, you click a button and a note pops up (see attached screen shot).
2019-12-30.png
In this example, I've clicked the Date/Time Stamp five times. I didn't, but I could have added my own details for each time stamp. All of the stamps are just written in the same note field. If I attempt to do this same thing, would I still have data integrity problems?

[acceptthis]

Re: Date/Time Stamp on a memo type field

I see your point with the user changing the actual stamp. I can change the stamp in QuickBooks any time by mistake or on purpose. I could even completely delete all the data and all the stamps in one … Opps!