Problem formatting short-time field

[WindForce]

Hi
In my UX, I have a short-time field where i would like the user to not have to enter the : symbol in the middle while typing.
I found this works when setting

time("0h:0m",<value>)

in the "Display Format" Textbox property.
The problem is that when i use the same ux to load data from a mySQL table, that field does not get loaded . If i remove that value from the display format property then it all works well (saves and reloads)

Thanks
Jaime

Edit: tried setting it as a C field as well, same problem

[TheSmitchell]

Re: Problem formatting short-time field

I briefly investigated this. The AWS doesn't appear set the value to anything if you've set the Display Format. I inspected the return from the server in FireBug. It executes something similar to {dialog.object}.setValue('TIME_FIELD','') if you've specified a Display Format. If you don't, then the value is actually set to the time, eg: {dialog.object}.setValue('TIME_FIELD','04:00:00:00 am'). You should probably send Alpha a bug report. This looks suspiciously like a problem.

In short term, though, you might be able to get around this a number of ways. You could certainly write a little bit of code to fetch the time and manually set the value with an ajaxCallback or server-side event (if you're populating the values in onDialogInitialize, then you'd just add some extra at the end probably.) You can leave your field an S with a Display Format and all the whistles. It should also save to the DB just fine. But loading the value will be something you have to write.

I did have a question. If you set the Time format to "0h:0m" and then edit the time, does it save back to your database successfully? Your initial value would be the long form but the edited value would display using the hours-minutes form:
timeFormat.png

If your time saves back to the DB successfully with the Time Format set to your desired display format, then you could manually format the time field yourself after the data is populated with a bit of client-side sauce:

var timeFormat = "0h:0m";
var d = new Date(2000,1,1);
var val = {dialog.object}.getValue('TIME_FIELD');
d.fromFormat(val,timeFormat);
val = d.toFormat(timeFormat);
{dialog.object}.setValue('TIME_FIELD', val);

Alpha added 2 extension functions for the Date object in JavaScript:

fromFormat([value as string], [time format])
Sets the Date by parsing the [value as string] using the specified [time format]

toFormat([time format])
Returns a String representation of the Date in the format specified by [time format]

I'm pretty 100% confident these functions are not documented on the wiki. And they're not part of the Date JavaScript spec. This is what I learned a while back, anyway.

The time format is specified using the rules specified here: http://wiki.alphasoftware.com/Date+a...ormat+Elements

Good luck.

[WindForce]

Re: Problem formatting short-time field

Hi Sarah
Thanks for taking the time...

I did have a question. If you set the Time format to "0h:0m" and then edit the time, does it save back to your database successfully? Your initial value would be the long form but the edited value would display using the hours-minutes form:

In this UX, i use short time fields, saved to the DB in c(5) fields. I tried setting field type in Alpha to either Character or Short-Time, didn't have any impact. I always set Time Format property to 0h:0m in all my short time fields throughout the application. When i remove the setting in the 'Display Format' it saves succesfully to the DB, and when editing the record in the DB the time fields populate successfully, but the users need the enter the : character when adding new records.
By the way, it's really not intuitive to call this Display Format since this doesn't imply it is in fact an Input Mask...

Alpha added 2 extension functions for the Date object in JavaScript:

fromFormat([value as string], [time format])
Sets the Date by parsing the [value as string] using the specified [time format]

toFormat([time format])
Returns a String representation of the Date in the format specified by [time format]

<vbg> now you tell!!?!?! Been suffering for two weeks writing datetime validation functions in javascript :-) This would have save me some time...

Jaime

[TheSmitchell]

Re: Problem formatting short-time field

<vbg> now you tell!!?!?! Been suffering for two weeks writing datetime validation functions in javascript :-) This would have save me some time...

Ha ha. Except I posted about it a long time ago: http://msgboard.alphasoftware.com/al...at%28format%29

I'm not sure what Alpha plans on doing with these functions down the road - they might be slightly different in Version 12, so use at your own risk. But I have used them in the onBlur event to auto-format whatever crazy stuff my users type in and it's been wildly successful. I can almost abandon the time picker completely.

[WindForce]

Re: Problem formatting short-time field

Ha ha. Except I posted about it a long time ago: http://msgboard.alphasoftware.com/al...at%28format%29

yeah, go ahead, "pour some salt on my wounds" as they say in Israel :-)

[TheSmitchell]

Re: Problem formatting short-time field

yeah, go ahead, "pour some salt on my wounds" as they say in Israel :-)

Any time! Glad I could help. :P

[Selwyn Rabins]

Re: Problem formatting short-time field

i am not able to duplicate any problem.

i tested this:

1. mysql table with a field of type 'time'
2. data bound UX component
3. server side display format expression of time("0h:0m",<value>)
4. defined an onDialogInitialize event to load primary keys

run the component - the time field shows up perfectly and it correctly formatted.

[WindForce]

Re: Problem formatting short-time field

Selwyn
No.1 in your list may be the key. I never use the time type in mySql for short times, i use C(5) instead. Anyway, steps sent :-)

Jaime

[Selwyn Rabins]

Re: Problem formatting short-time field

well, if your field type is a character field, and not a shorttime field, then the reason that the server side format is not working is quite simple. the time() function does not operate on a character value input.

you would need to change your server side display format to first cast the character value to a short time value using the convert_type() function.




time("0h:0m am",convert_type(<value>,"Y"))