How to process regional date formats in WAS?

[Ren� Stout]

Hello,

I am still wrestling with the date format.
Situation:
Dutch users use dd-mm-yy. In all my grids I can rely on that.

The way A5 handles date fields seems partly to depend on Windows setings, partly on WAS settings.

When my users are abroad and use, for instance, an Internet Cafe, thay have no influence on he Windows settings.

I as a database manager, have no influence on WAS settings when I use a hosted WAS server.

So my question is:

How can I "universilize" my database, knowing that my users allways use the dutch format (dd-mm-yy) when they enter a date value in a field or search or filter, but not knowing where they are, and how the WAS server and Windows are set up?

I red about ctod(), cdate() and others, but I get more confused because the ctod() appears to rely on the system setting, so you cannot predict the outcome.
Some examples use dates like 12/12/2005, which makes it difficult to see if they can by used in this side of the Atlantic.

The date picker works ok in entering a date value into a field. The problems arise when I want to retrieve dates.

I do not want to work around things by splitting up date field, do fuzzy things with the parts, and glueing them together again afterwards.

Greetings, Ren�

[Cheryl Lemire]

RE: How to process regional date formats in WAS?

Rene,

If you are talking about a user entering a date into a field on a web page that you create and then taking what they enter to add to a table in your db ... the computer settings they are using or the WAS server should have no impact whatsoever on that data. You control that data in your code for that web page. The only time the computer settings or the WAS settings play a role with the date or time is if you are trying to pull the date/time that the user is entering the information.

I don't think the computer settings will have much effect on that either. I believe that the WAS server settings will. The best suggestion I can give for that would be to design your db to what the default WAS settings would be and maybe add a note somewhere when you distribute the application stating that is the way it is setup.

Even then, the format that a user 'enters' a date field is totally controlled by your code. The way you display a date field on your page is also totally controlled by your code.

Good luck
Cheryl

[Ren� Stout]

RE: How to process regional date formats in WAS?

Hello Cheryl,

thank you for your answer.
I have no problem storing data in the database and displaying those data afterwards in grids.
I do have a problem with filtering and searching.
I do not like the idea that I depend on WAS settings of others. I prefer to control things myself.

So if I could use a function or simple calculation to make the filters and expressions universal, this would help me a lot.

Example: I used to check for empty date fields like this:
if(DateOne={- -},DateFieldIsEmpty,DateIsGiven)
Then my expressions did not work in the beta WAS environment of Alphasupport because the WAS expected {/ /}.
I changed the expression to:
if(DateOne=ctod(""),DateFieldIsEmpty,DateIsGiven)
That helped.

But testing on a value being after or before a date doesn't work because of the days/month swap when you cross the Atlantic.
So, I am still looking for something like:

if(standardized(WASdateformat,DateToCheck)"standardized(Myformat,DateToCompareWith)...

So, on my side I can change to the standard format, because I know what format I use.
But the WAS should be so kind to do the same on the WAS side, because only the WAS knows what IT uses.

Ren�