Date Formatting lost on click

[phxbypdx]

Hey all -

I have a date field bound to a textbox on a continuous form.

The format (mm/dd/yy hh:nn AM/PM) results in 08/17/2010 5:03 PM

It works fabulously on load.

However, when I click into the field, I lose that formatting, and it reverts to:

08/17/2010 5:03:08 PM

Which is the default for that field.

Any thoughts?

Scott

 

[John Big Booty]

I believe that this is happening because the formatting only effects the way the data is displayed, but the field is actually storing the data as 08/17/2010 5:03:08 PM, so when you click into the field to enter data it shows you the Date/Time in full.

 

[phxbypdx]

I believe that this is happening because the formatting only effects the way the data is displayed, but the field is actually storing the data as 08/17/2010 5:03:08 PM, so when you click into the field to enter data it shows you the Date/Time in full.

Yeah that's along the lines of what I was thinking.

The workaround I've implemented is, in the click event of the textbox, adding:

timesent.Format = Format(Date, "mm/dd/yy hh:nn AM/PM")

That works, but there is a microsecond where the DB value is displayed. I tried putting that code in a few other event handlers, but no avail. Is there anywhere I can put it to avoid that flash of full timestamp?

 

[phxbypdx]

Got it.. mousedown. How did I miss that. Duh.

 

[boblarson]

Why not make the change in your table, where it counts. You probably have the FORMAT of the Date/Time field set to GENERAL and so you would need to set it to


mmmm d", "yyyy hh:nn AM/PM

instead.

 

[John Big Booty]

Why not make the change in your table, where it counts. You probably have the FORMAT of the Date/Time field set to GENERAL and so you would need to set it to


mmmm d", "yyyy hh:nn AM/PM

instead.

Hi Bob The formatting only effects the value for display purposes, as soon as you click the cursor into the field the full date is displayed so that August 21, 2010 7:50 AM becomes 21/08/2010 7:50:43 AM. If you simply tab into the field the date displays as formatted.

 

[boblarson]

Hi Bob The formatting only effects the value for display purposes, as soon as you click the cursor into the field the full date is displayed so that August 21, 2010 7:50 AM becomes 21/08/2010 7:50:43 AM. If you simply tab into the field the date displays as formatted.

It doesn't if you create the field like I said. If you have a date field where you've set the datatype in the table to date/time and then used in the table where you select SHORT DATE, it does not act like what you said when you click into the field when that is used in a form. The same goes for a custom format at the table level. It will at form level if you use GENERAL or blank as the format at table level.

 

[John Big Booty]

OK, just had a further play with this. If you use Now() (as I was, and possibly the OP is too) as your default value, you will always get the behaviour I described. However if you manually enter the Date/Time, it will behave nicely as you suggest Bob.

 

[boblarson]

Well, I guess I was wrong. I could have sworn I did that before, but my test database proves me wrong. So, I'm sorry.

 

[John Big Booty]

Don't sweat it, I suspect we both made some assumptions, and we all know that when you assume, it makes an ASS out of U and ME

 

[phxbypdx]

I have a "time sent" field in my database that records the time a message was sent (inter-office messaging feature being added to this app).

I've formatted the field on the table itself as bob indicated. As John (big booty.. JBB) indicated, when I click in that field, I get the general date format, which I don't want.

To this point, the only solution I've found is putting the code in the mouse down event. Is that the right way to do this?

 

[John Big Booty]

The only way I can see of avoiding this behaviour is to ensure that the date is entered in the format 21/08/2010 7:50 AM, if you are using the Now() function to grab the current Date/Time it will always store as 21/08/2010 7:50:43 AM. So if your code achieves your goal then stick with it.