How to set a time field with a Javascript button?

[Scholin]

I have a linked grid with a time field {TO4_Time} with a button next to it in a tabular upgradable grid.

I would like to figure out how to use the button's JavaScript to set the value of the time field to Now() when pressed.

I have tried several variations but no luck with the callback or JavaScript. I am also connected to SQL tables.

I am sure it there is a simple way - any ideas?

Thanks!

[Lance Gurd]

Re: How to set a time field with a Javascript button?

this works

var d = new Date();
{grid.Object}._setValue('G','TO4_TIME',{Grid.RowNumber},d.toLocaleTimeString());

your field must be uppercase

[Scholin]

Re: How to set a time field with a Javascript button?

Lance,
Your code worked perfectly without modification - so rare, thank you.

There is always a "however" it seams with coding . . the code will display 12:25:47 AM but it stores the value in my SQL table as 2015-12-21 00:00:00 (that may not be the exact corresponding match gives you the idea).

I have tried changing the SQL Date/Time type as well as changing the Alpha Display Format to no avail for saving it correctly.

So it displays it well but doesn't save it well. I ideally would like to display it as military time alone without a date but that is a small point.

Do you know what combination I need on the Alpha and SQL side for this date field?

Thanks again!

[Lance Gurd]

Re: How to set a time field with a Javascript button?

Sorry Michael,

I got a bit confused and should have read your first post fully, thought you just wanted the time in the field. You actually asked for the javascript to enter the NOW() value. This is even simpler to attain you only need this one line

{grid.Object}._setValue('G','TO4_TIME',{Grid.RowNumber},Date());

this will save the current date and time in your field, if you only want to show the time in the field you will have to do some formatting

[Scholin]

Re: How to set a time field with a Javascript button?

Thank you Lance.

I spent several hours of playing around with different combination of data formats and looking up JavaScript examples online and ended up going with your first example and saving it to SQL as text.

I am obviously by no means a programmer but this will work. However - I am more curios than anything else to find a way to save it to SQL as a date and in military time.

Also, what would be very cool is if there was a JavaSript or Ajax callback that would display and save the time automatically!

Thanks again!

[Lance Gurd]

Re: How to set a time field with a Javascript button?

Sorry Michael don't do any SQL (although I keep meaning to), but to get the time in military format every time you enter a new record is just a matter of entering something like

e.newValues.TO4_time = time()

in the onInitialValueCalculate event for your grid. Of course this will, once again, save the data incorrectly in your field at the SQL end, but I am sure with a bit of playing you could get it to work as these are in good old xbasic.

[Scholin]

Re: How to set a time field with a Javascript button?

For those who are interested and don't fully understand the Alpha use of JavaScript with a button (as in this example and like me), I will explain how I got my solution with the help of Lance's examples (thank you Lance).

I like to know "why" things work so I typically spend way too much time digging so I hope this will help someone who is at the same place as I.

I wanted a button that a client can clicked that will insert a military time into a field, or the client can type a military time to be what ever time they want.

I am using Alpha 10 with an SQL backend. So I added the button, on Field Properties, Javascript, "onClick", I added an Action Script - Inline-Javascript with the following code:

var d = new Date();
{grid.Object}._setValue('G','DOSE',{Grid.RowNumber},d.getHours()+':'+d.getMinutes());

So what does this mean?
new Date() is just a JS date object to hold a date value. It will automatically hold the current date and time as its initial value.

getHours() and getMinutes() are JS commands to get the Hour and Minute from the new Date varable, and so I just strung them together as they will be stored in a character field in SQL.

{grid.Object}._setValue(part,name,row,value) is the method used by Alpha to set the value of my field: TO4_DATE

Using the above method, all I had to do is to insert the "part" of the control ('G' for grid, 'D' for detail view, 'S' for Search part)
Add my field name to "name", (TO4_DATE)
Row is using a place holder called {Grid.RowNumber} that will insert the correct row for you
Value is what I want placed in my field, in this case the value of the string expression.

That is it - works very nicely. It wasn't exactly what I wanted as I could not get a date time to store in SQL and I am sure there is a way, but I learned a whole lot more about these new features for Alpha 10! I hope someone else will benefit from my ramblings.

[Scholin]

Re: How to set a time field with a Javascript button?

Lance (or anyone else),

Your code does work very well with a button press except if the minutes are less than 10, like 08:05, then it displays the military time as 8:5.

I found a js function to fix this but not sure how to make it work with the alpha script. Here is what I found on a website and tried to replace my working script which gives me a script error:

var hours = new Date();
var minutes = new Date();

var d= (hours%12==0?"12":hours%12) + ":" + (minutes<10?"0"+minutes:minutes);
{grid.Object}._setValue('G','TIME',{Grid.RowNumber},d);

Any ideas on how to work this in?

Thanks!

[Lance Gurd]

Re: How to set a time field with a Javascript button?

Michael,

You nearly got it right but it is a bit of a combination between both of your last two to get it to work. Here goes:

var now = new Date();
var hours = now.getHours();
var minutes = now.getMinutes();
var d= (hours%12==0?'12':hours%12) + ':' + (minutes<10?'0'+minutes:minutes);


{grid.Object}._setValue('G','TIME',{Grid.RowNumber},d);

[Scholin]

Re: How to set a time field with a Javascript button?

PERFECT!! I love it when these things work - thanks for your help Lance.

[Rich Hartnett]

Re: How to set a time field with a Javascript button?

I know this post goes back about a year, but I'm wondering if any of you figured out how to get the date formatted correctly when using javascript?

I have a need to post a Date in one field and the current time in military style in the other, and I'm stuck on the date part. (The time is working perfectly, thanks to your posts.)

After researching on the internet, I found this posted on a Javascript Date Format page:
------------------------------------------------------
var now = new Date();

now.format("m/dd/yy");
// Returns, e.g., 6/09/07
-------------------------------------------------------

So I tried this:

var now = new Date();

now.format("m/dd/yy");

{grid.Object}._setValue('G',TEST',{Grid.RowNumber},now);

But Alpha tells me there is a syntax error, and I'm assuming it has to do with the "m/dd/yy" format, even though that is the way it is shown on the internet.

Has anyone mastered this?

[StephenP]

Re: How to set a time field with a Javascript button?

Rich,

You have a typo (missing the opening quote on TEST), but you also are using a method that is not standard js (seems to be part of a js library).

But you can do it this way:

On you button, or whatever event, add an Ajax Callback, with the function name set to something like getCurrentDate. Then define the callback (click the Open Xbasic Function Declarations link at the bottom of the Ajax Callback screen) as:

function getCurrentDate as c (e as p)
    getCurrentDate = "{grid.Object}._setValue('G','TEST',{Grid.RowNumber},'" + dtoc(date()) + "');"
end function

This should do it.

[Rich Hartnett]

Re: How to set a time field with a Javascript button?

Stephen it works like a champ, and much easier than the other method, but let me ask you one more question -

I want to fill two fields at the same time using the same button (date & time). I tried the below xbasic script but it only fills one of the two fields. What am I doing wrong here?

function getCurrentDate as c (e as p)
getCurrentDate = "{grid.Object}._setValue('G','DATE_BEGIN',{Grid.RowNumber},'" + dtoc(date()) + "');"
getCurrentDate = "{grid.Object}._setValue('G','TIME_BEGIN',{Grid.RowNumber},'" + time("0h0m") + "');"
end function

Thanks