• Array Functions
• Blob Functions
• Character Functions
• Date and Time Functions
• Numeric Functions
• Other Functions
• Type Checking Functions

Date and Time Functions

Description

Methods to support date and time data types.

*add_days Function

Syntax

Arguments

timeTime

A time value.

daysNumeric

The number of days to add to the time value. Days can be a negative value.

Returns

newTimeTime

Returns the time value incremented by days.

Description

Add days to date or time.

Example

dim time as t
time = now()
? time
= 10/12/2017 08:54:05 89 am

dim increment as n
increment = round(rand()*100,0)
? increment
= 29

? *add_days(time, increment)
= 11/10/2017 08:54:05 89 am

See Also

• Date and Time Functions

*add_hours Function

Syntax

Arguments

timeTime

A time value.

hoursNumeric

The number of hours to add to the time value. Hours can be a negative value.

Returns

newTimeTime

Returns the time value incremented by hours.

Description

Add hours to date or time.

Example

dim time as t
time = now()
? time
= 10/12/2017 08:54:05 89 am

dim increment as n
increment = round(rand()*100,0)
? increment
= 9

? *add_hours(time, increment)
= 10/12/2017 05:54:05 89 pm

See Also

• Date and Time Functions

*add_minutes Function

Syntax

Arguments

timeTime

A time value.

minutesNumeric

The number of minutes to add to the time value. Minutes can be a negative value.

Returns

newTimeTime

Returns the time value incremented by minutes.

Description

Add minutes to date or time.

Discussion

The *add_minutes() function increments a time value by a specified number of minutes.

Example

dim time as t
time = now()
? time
= 10/12/2017 08:54:05 89 am

dim minutes as n
minutes = round(rand()*100,0)
? minutes
= 99

? *add_minutes(time, minutes)
= 10/12/2017 10:33:05 89 am

Example: Ajax Callback in a UX

The example below is an Ajax Callback for a UX Component with 3 text boxes with a T (time) type. The callback calculates two reminders based on the time value in the 'ScheduledTime' control. The resulting reminder values are set in the 'Reminder1' and 'Reminder2' text controls in the UX.

function calculateReminders as c (e as p)
    ' Get the submitted time value:
    dim time as T = convert_type(e.dataSubmitted.ScheduledTime,"T")

    ' Compute the time for the 2 reminders: 15 and 30 minutes prior:
    dim reminder1 as T = *add_minutes(time,-30)
    dim reminder2 as T = *add_minutes(time,-15)

    ' Set the value for the reminder textboxes in the UX
    ' Note: Must convert the time value to a string with the format
    ' matching the time format used in the controls.
    e._set.reminder1.value = time("MM/dd/yyyy 0h:0m am",reminder1)
    e._set.reminder2.value = time("MM/dd/yyyy 0h:0m am",reminder2)

    ' Return optional JavaScript here:
    calculateReminders = ""
end function

See Also

• Date and Time Functions

*add_months Function

Syntax

Arguments

timeTime

A time value.

monthsNumeric

The number of months to add to the time value. Months can be a negative value.

Returns

newTimeTime

Returns the time value incremented by months.

Description

Add months to date or time.

Example

dim time as t
time = now()
? time
= 10/12/2017 08:54:05 89 am

dim increment as n
increment = round(rand()*100,0)
? increment
= 2

? *add_months(time, increment)
= 12/12/2017 08:54:05 89 am

See Also

• Date and Time Functions

*add_seconds Function

Syntax

Arguments

timeTime

A time value.

secondsNumeric

The number of seconds to add to the time value. Seconds can be a negative value.

Returns

newTimeTime

Returns the time value incremented by seconds.

Description

Add seconds to date or time.

Example

dim time as t
time = now()
? time
= 10/12/2017 08:54:05 89 am

dim increment as n
increment = round(rand()*100,0)
? increment
= 29

? *add_seconds(time, increment)
= 10/12/2017 08:54:34 89 am

See Also

• Date and Time Functions

*add_years Function

Syntax

Arguments

timeTime

A time value.

yearsNumeric

The number of years to add to the time value. Years can be a negative value.

Returns

newTimeTime

Returns the time value incremented by years.

Description

Add years to date or time.

Example

dim time as t
time = now()
? time
= 10/12/2017 08:54:05 89 am

dim increment as n
increment = round(rand()*100,0)
? increment
= 29

? *add_years(time, increment)
= 10/12/2046 08:54:05 89 am

See Also

• Date and Time Functions

*days_between Function

Syntax

Arguments

t1Time

A datetime value.

t2Time

A datetime value

Returns

ResultNumeric

Returns the days between the specified datetime values. If t2 is a date later than t1, *DAYS_BETWEEN will return a negative value.

Description

Return difference of days between two dates or times.

Example

dim t1 as T
dim t2 as T
dim t3 as T

t1 = {01/12/2016}
t2 = {01/24/2016}
t3 = {01/08/2016}

? *days_between(t2, t1)
= 12

? *days_between(t3, t1)
= -4

See Also

• Date and Time Functions
• bus_days_between()

*hours_between Function

Syntax

Arguments

t1Time

A datetime value.

t2Time

A datetime value

Returns

ResultNumeric

Returns the hours between two dates or times. If t2 is a date or time later than t1, *HOURS_BETWEEN will return a negative value.

Description

Return difference of hours between two dates or times.

Example

dim time1 as t = now()
dim time2 as t = *add_hours(time1, 9)

? *hours_between(time2, time1)
= 9

? *hours_between(time1, time2)
= -9

See Also

• Date and Time Functions

*minutes_between Function

Syntax

Arguments

t1Time

A datetime value.

t2Time

A datetime value

Returns

ResultNumeric

Returns the minutes between two dates or times. If t2 is a date or time later than t1, *MINUTES_BETWEEN will return a negative value.

Description

Return difference of minutes between two dates or times.

Example

dim t1 as t = now()
dim t2 as t = earlier

? t1
= 10/12/2017 11:32:53 53 am

? t2
= 10/12/2017 09:12:44 65 am

? *minutes_between(t2, t1)
= -140.147966666667

See Also

• Date and Time Functions

*months_between Function

Syntax

Arguments

t1Time

A datetime value.

t2Time

A datetime value

Returns

ResultNumeric

Returns the months between two dates or times. If t2 is a date or time later than t1, *MONTHS_BETWEEN will return a negative value.

Description

Return difference of months between two dates or times.

Example

dim cn as sql::Connection
cn.open("::Name::northwind")

dim args as sql::arguments
args.set("orderID",10251)

dim sql as c = "SELECT * FROM orders WHERE orderid = :orderID"
cn.execute(sql,args)

if (cn.ResultSet.NextRow()) then
    dim t1 as T = cn.resultset.data("requireddate")
    dim t2 as T = cn.resultset.data("shippeddate")

    dim months_between as N = *months_between(t1,t2)
    months_between = abs(months_between)
    dim timing as c = ""
    if (t2 > t1) then
        timing = "late"
    else
        timing = "early"
    end if

    ui_msg_box("Months Between","Order 10251 was shipped " + months_between + " month " + timing + crlf(2) + "Required date: " + time("MM/dd/yyyy",t1) + crlf() + "Shipped date: " + time("MM/dd/yyyy", t2))
end if

cn.close()

See Also

• Date and Time Functions

*seconds_between Function

Syntax

Arguments

t1Time

A datetime value.

t2Time

A datetime value

Returns

ResultNumeric

Returns the seconds between two dates or times. If t2 is a date or time later than t1, *SECONDS_BETWEEN will return a negative value.

Description

Return difference of seconds between two dates or times.

Example

dim now as t = now()

' wait a few seconds before typing the following into the interactive window:
dim someTimeLater as t = now()

? now
= 10/12/2017 11:47:06 82 am

? someTimeLater
= 10/12/2017 11:47:16 58 am

? *seconds_between(someTimeLater, now)
= 9.759

See Also

• Date and Time Functions

*years_between Function

Syntax

Arguments

t1Time

A datetime value.

t2Time

A datetime value

Returns

ResultNumeric

Returns the years between two dates or times. If t2 is a date or time later than t1, *YEARS_BETWEEN will return a negative value.

Description

Return difference of years between two dates or times.

Example

dim birthDate as t = convert_type({01/20/1981},"T")
dim now as t = now()
dim age as n = *years_between(now, birthDate)

? age
= 36

See Also

• Date and Time Functions

a5_add_timestamp Function

Syntax

Arguments

input_script_text

Character

Description

Adds a date and time stamp to a script or function when it is saved

See Also

• Date and Time Functions

A5_CONVERT_DATE_STRING Function

Syntax

Arguments

dateStringCharacter

The original data string, containing values for year, month, and day. Character

InDateFormatCharacter

A character string containing the letters "Y", "M", and "D" that indicates the sequence of input values.

OutDateFormatCharacter

A character string containing the letters "Y", "M", and "D" that indicates the sequence of output values.

separatorCharacter

The character(s) to place between the year, month, and day values.

Returns

Output_DateCharacter

The reformatted date string.

Description

The A5_CONVERT_DATE_STRING() function reformats a date string, by converting a date string from one format to another. E.g. from DMY format to YMD format.

Example

? a5_convert_date_string("12/31/05", "MDY", "YMD", "-")
= "05-12-31"

See Also

• Date and Time Functions

A5_CONVERT_DATETIME_STRING Function

Syntax

Arguments

dateTimeStringCharacter

The original data string, containing values for year, month, day, hours, and minutes.

InDateFormatCharacter

A character string containing the letters "Y", "M", and "D" that indicates the sequence of input values.

OutDateFormatCharacter

A character string containing the letters "Y", "M", and "D" that indicates the sequence of output values.

separatorCharacter

The character(s) to place between the year, month, and day values.

Returns

Output_Date_TimeCharacter

The reformatted date time string.

Description

The A5_CONVERT_DATETIME_STRING() function reformats a date portion of a date time string, by converting a datetime string from one format to another. E.g. from DMY format to YMD format.

Example

? a5_convert_datetime_string("12/31/05 4:12pm", "MDY", "YMD", "-")
= "05/12/31  4:12pm"

See Also

• Date and Time Functions

a5_embeddedcalendargenie Function

Syntax

Arguments

pedit

Pointer

Description

Display the datePicker genie

See Also

• Date and Time Functions

a5_get_date_format Function

Syntax

Description

Determines if the default date format is 'm/d' - USA format, or 'd/m' - non USA format.

See Also

• Date and Time Functions

A5_GETDATEHTML Function

Syntax

Arguments

Selected_Date

The date selected by the user.

title

Optional. Default = "Calendar". The title of the calendar dialog.

default_date

Optional. Default = current date. The initial date to show selected in the calendar.

style

Optional. The path to and filename of a CSS style.

nocaption

Logical

xdialogPositionCommand

Character

Description

Displays a dialog with a popup calendar rendered using HTML.

Discussion

The A5_GETDATEHTML() function displays an HTML calendar and returns a date value formatted as a character string. The range of years shown is from 1950 to 2050. Note : If you have changed the Xdialog system font setting from its default value, you should use HTML style display. To enable HTML style display, select View > Settings > System > Preferences > Calendar Popup. Select Style and a cascading style sheet from the Value list. If you use the Xdialog style, you should have your Xdialog system font setting at its default value (Tahoma 8 point). To restore the default font setting select View > Settings > System > System Fonts > Restore Default. These settings also affect POPUP.CALENDAR()and UI_GET_DATE_CALENDAR().

Example

? A5_GETDATEHTML("","","")
= "11/15/2004"

Limitations

Desktop applications only.

See Also

• Date and Time Functions

a5_gettimeformats Function

Syntax

Arguments

type

Character

Description

Get the time format strings

See Also

• Date and Time Functions

a5_gettimevalue Function

Syntax

Arguments

time

Character

Description

Prompt for a time value

See Also

• Date and Time Functions

a5_normalizedate Function

Syntax

Arguments

dateC

Character

format

Character

displayUnformat

Character

Description

Used to normalize a character date or date/time value so that it conforms to local regional settings. You can specify an optional 'switch year' in the format: e.g. mm/dd/yy::30.

See Also

• Date and Time Functions

A5_RFC1123DATE Function

Syntax

Arguments

Formatted_Date_Time

A date time value in the format: "Day, dd Mon yyyy hh:mm:ss GMT " ("Tue, 30 Mar 2004 14:17:02 GMT")

Character_Date

A date time value formatted "mm/dd/yyyy 0h:0m:0s am".

date

*

Time_Date_Value

A date time value.

Description

Converts a date string to an RFC 1123 formatted date (Day, dd Month yyyy hh:mm:ss TIMEZONE)

Discussion

The A5_RFC1123DATE() function takes a date, either as a time or character, and converts it to a string following the RFC 1123 format.

Example

dim t as T
t = now()
? a5_rfc1123date(t)
= "Tue, 30 Mar 2004 16:17:55 GMT"

See Also

• Date and Time Functions

A5_RFC822DATE Function

Syntax

Arguments

Formatted_Date_Time

A date time value in the format: "Day, dd Mon yy hh:mm:ss GMT " ("Tue, 30 Mar 04 14:17:02 GMT")

Character_Date_Time

A date time value formatted "mm/dd/yyyy 0h:0m:0s am".

date

A date time value.

Description

Converts a date string to an RFC 822 formatted date (Day, dd Month yy hh:mm:ss TIMEZONE)

Discussion

The A5_RFC822DATE() function takes a date, either as a time or character, and converts it to a string following the RFC 822 format.

Example

dim t as T
t = now()
?a5_rfc822date(t)
= "Tue, 30 Mar 04 16:17:55 GMT"

See Also

• Date and Time Functions

A5_RFC850DATE Function

Syntax

Arguments

Formatted_Date_Time

A date time value in the format: "Weekday, dd-Mon-yy hh:mm:ss GMT" ("Tuesday, 30-Mar-04 14:17:02 GMT")

Character_Date_Time

A date time value formatted "mm/dd/yyyy 0h:0m:0s am".

date

A date time value.

Description

Converts a date string to an RFC 850 formatted date (Weekday, dd-Mon-yy hh:mm:ss TIMEZONE)

Discussion

The A5_RFC850DATE() function takes a date, either as a time or character, and converts it to a string following the RFC 850 format.

Example

dim t as T
t = now()
? a5_rfc850date(t)
= "Tuesday, 30 Mar 04 16:17:55 GMT"

See Also

• Date and Time Functions

A5_T_FROM_RFCDATE Function

Syntax

Arguments

Date_Time_Value

A date time value in the format: 03/30/0004 04:17:55 00 pm

date_string

A formatted date. Character

Description

Converts a time in RFC 822, RFC 850, RFC 1123 or ANSI C format to a time variable

Discussion

The A5_T_FROM_RFCDATE() function converts a date time string in RFC 822, RFC 850, RFC 1123 or ANSI C formats to a Time variable. This function will automatically determine the format of the input string and handle the conversion appropriately.

Example

dim t as T
t = now()
? a5_t_from_rfcdate(a5_rfc822date(t))
= 03/30/0004 04:17:55 00 pm
? a5_t_from_rfcdate(a5_rfc850date(t))
= 03/30/0004 04:17:55 00 pm
? a5_t_from_rfcdate(a5_rfc1123date(t))
= 03/30/2004 04:17:55 00 pm
? a5_t_from_rfcdate(a5_ansidate(t))
= 03/30/2004 11:17:55 00 am

See Also

• Date and Time Functions

a5_time_format_help Function

Syntax

Arguments

date_only

Logical

time_only

Logical

initialValue

Character

flagSuppressMilliseconds

Logical

Description

Builder for time/date format string.

See Also

• Date and Time Functions

A5_TIMESTAMP Function

Syntax

Returns

Formatted_Short_TimeCharacter

The current system time formatted according to your preferences.

Description

Generates a timestamp as a character string for the current time.

Discussion

The A5_TIMESTAMP() function returns a short time value as character string, using the time format specified in the Settings dialog box ( Settings... > Preferences > Time ) section. This function is called when the user presses the Control + Shift + T hotkey in form or browse mode.

Example

? a5_timestamp()
= "04:51 PM"

See Also

• Date and Time Functions

ADD_BUS_DAYS Function

Syntax

Arguments

Ending_Date

The resulting date.

startDate

The starting date to which you will add business days.

AddDays

A positive or negative number ( not zero). The number of business days to add or subtract. The function does not count weekend days.

flag

Optional. Default = "". If Ignore_Holiday_Flag is any non-null value, the function subtracts holidays from the number of non-weekend days.

holidayTable

Optional. Default = "a_holidays.dbf". If Ignore_Holiday_Flag is "yes", the function uses the list of holidays is supplied in Holiday_Table. If Holiday_Table is blank, then Alpha Anywhere uses the "a_holidays.dbf" table which is contained in the Alpha Anywhere program folder. The holidays in the "a_holidays.dbf" table are defined in the Settings dialog box, accessed with the View > Settings > System > Holidays command from the Alpha Anywhere menus.

Description

ADD_BUS_DAYS() returns an Ending_Date equal to Starting_Date plus Add_Days number of business days.

Adds business days to a date, ignoring weekends. AddDays can be positive or negative. If flag is "yes", then holidays are also ignored. If holidayTable is not specified, then default holiday table (see View/Settings) is used. To use a SQL datasource, 'holidayTable' can be a JSON string with these properties: connectionString, table, column. e.g. {connectionString: 'northwind', table: 'holidays', column: 'dates'}

Example

? {7/12/2002} + 1
= {7/13/2002}
? add_bus_days({7/12/2002}, 1)
= {07/15/2002}

See Also

• BUS_DAYS_BETWEEN()
• Settings
• Date and Time Functions

ADDMONTHS Function

Syntax

Arguments

dateDate

The date that months will be added to.

monthsDate

The number of months to add. Specifying a negative value will perform a month subtraction from the specified date.

Returns

Ending_DateDate

The result of adding months to date.

Description

Adds a number of months to a date.

Discussion

ADDMONTHS() returns an Ending_Date equal to the specified Starting_Date plus the specified Number_Of_Months.

The ADDMONTHS() function adds the specified Number_Of_Months to the Starting_Date and then checks if the resulting date is valid. If the resulting date is not valid (e.g., 1-31-95 plus 1 month is 2-31-95), the highest valid date in that month (e.g., 2-28-95) is returned. Alpha Anywhere does recognize leap years.

Example

? ADDMONTHS({1-31-95},1)
= {02/28/1995}

? ADDMONTHS({3-15-95},1)
= {04/15/1995}

? ADDMONTHS({5-15-95},-2)
= {03/15/1995}

See Also

• ADD_BUS_DAYS()
• ADDYEARS()
• Date and Time Functions

ADDYEARS Function

Syntax

Arguments

date

The date to which you will add business days.

years

The number of years to add.

Description

Adds a number of years to a date.

Discussion

ADDYEARS() returns an Ending_Date equal to Date plus the specified Number_Of_Year s. The ADDYEARS() function works by adding the specified Number_Of_Year s to the Starting_Date and then checking if the resulting date is valid. If the resulting date is not valid (e.g., 2-29-92 plus 1 year is 2-29-93), Alpha Anywhere returns the next valid day (e.g., 3-1-93).

Example

? addyears({2-28-92},1)
= {02/28/1993}
? addyears({2-29-92},1)
= {03/01/1993}

See Also

• ADD_BUS_DAYS()
• ADDMONTHS()
• Date and Time Functions

AGE Function

Syntax

Arguments

dob

The first date.

AsOfDate

Optional. Default = DATE(). The second date to use in calculating the age.

Description

Computes a person's age. If AsOfDate is not supplied, then age as of today is computed. If AsOfDate is supplied, then age on the AsOfDate is computed.

Discussion

AGE() returns the integer number of years between Starting_Date and Ending_Date (default now).

Example

age({12/18/1952}) -> 49

See Also

• Date and Time Functions

BUS_DAYS_BETWEEN Function

Syntax

Arguments

startDate

The date to which you will add business days.

endDate

The number of business days to add. The function does not count weekend days.

flag

Default = "". If Ignore_Holiday_Flag is any non-null value, the function subtracts holidays from the number of non-weekend days.

holidayTable

Optional. Default = "a_holidays.dbf". If Ignore_Holiday_Flag is non-null, the function uses the list of holidays supplied in Holiday_Table. If Holiday_Table is blank, then Alpha Anywhere uses the a_holidays.dbf table which is contained in the Alpha Anywhere program folder. The holidays in the a_holidays.dbf table are defined in the Settings dialog box, accessed with the View > Settings > System > Holidays command from the Alpha Anywhere menus.

Description

BUS_DAYS_BETWEEN() returns the number of business days between two dates, ignoring weekends and holidays. To use a SQL datasource, 'holidayTable' can be a JSON string with these properties: connectionString, table, column. e.g. {connectionString: 'northwind', table: 'holidays', column: 'dates'}

Example

? bus_days_between({1/18/1948}, date() , "yes")
= 14348

The following scripts count the number of business days in the month that contains a specific date.

dim num_days as N 
 dim dd as D 
 dd = date() 
 num_days = bus_days_between(month_start({2/26/06}), month_end({2/26/06})) 
 num_days = bus_days_between(month_start(dd), month_end(dd))

SQL 'Holidays' Table

The Bus_days_between() can use a SQL table as the data source for the list of holiday dates. To specify a SQL table, the 'holidayTable' argument that is passed into the function is in the form of a JSON string with these properties:

• connectionString

  The connection string to the SQL database

• table

  The name of the table that contains the holiday dates. If this property is not specified a table called 'A5Holidays' is assumed.

• column

  The name of the column that contains the holiday dates. If this property is not specified, a column called 'Dates' is assumed.

• filterColumn

  (optional) the name of a column in the holiday table that you want to filter on

• filterColumnType

  (required if filterColumn is specified) - the data type of the filterColumn. Can be c,n,d,t,l.

• filterValue

  (required if filterColumn is specified) - the value to search for.

Example:

days = Bus_days_between(  {12/1/2013},{12/31/2013},"yes","{connectionstring: 
'myconnstring', table: 'holidays', column: 'dates'}") 
days = Bus_days_between(  {12/1/2013},{12/31/2013},"yes","{connectionstring: 
'myconnstring', table: 'holidays', column: 'dates', filterColumn: 'country', 
filterColumnType: 'c', filterValue: 'USA'}")

See Also

• ADD_BUS_DAYS()
• Settings
• Date and Time Functions

CDATE Function

Syntax

Arguments

date

A variable containing a date value or a character string containing a legitimate representation of a date value ( ISDATE (Date_Value) = .T.).

date-time

A variable containing a date time value.

Description

Converts a date to a character value in the form 'YYYYMMDD'.

Discussion

CDATE() interprets a Date value and returns a Formatted_Date character string in the form "YYYYMMDD". This function is useful for constructing multi-level indexes that contain both character and date fields. Indexes containing the CDATE() function order dates chronologically (year, then month, then day), while those containing DTOC() order dates by month, day, and year.

Example

? cdate(date() )
= "20050617"
? cdate({6/15/05})
= "20050615"
INV_DATE = {12/18/1993}
? cdate(INV_DATE)
= "19931218"

Assume you want to order an employee table by department and within each department by seniority. The table has a character field, DEPT, and a date field, STARTDATE. Use the following index expression:

DEPT + cdate(START)

The following table shows the order created by this index:

EMPLOYEE

>

FIRSTNAME

DEPT and START DATE

Steve

Marketing, 03/21/78

Kate

Marketing, 04/17/79

Sarah

Marketing, 01/02/83

Ralph

R&D, 01/01/80

Tim

R&D 03/20/80

Francie

R&D 02/17/84

Compare this result with the DTOC() function. If the DTOC() function is used in the above index expression instead of CDATE() , the following ordering results:

EMPLOYEE

>

FIRSTNAME

DEPT and START DATE

Sarah

Marketing, 01/02/83

Steve

Marketing, 03/21/78

Kate

Marketing 04/17/79

Ralph

R&D 01/01/80

Francie

R&D 02/17/84

Entering search criteria to search on a date field presents a problem because you cannot type in a date directly as a text string. You must either surround the text you enter with the CTOD() function, or use a function to convert the date field to a character field before comparing it with the text. If you want to search a date field, BIRTHDAY, for the date, "September 20, 1966," you can enter the following criteria:

cdate(BIRTHDAY) = "19660920" or
BIRTHDAY = ctod("09/20/1966") or
BIRTHDAY = ctod("09/20/66") or
BIRTHDAY = {9/20/66}

If you want to test for a blank date, use the following expression:

if (trim(cdate(datevalue) ) = "") then
    ' blank value code
else
    ' valid date code
end if

See Also

• Date and Time Functions

CDOW Function

Syntax

Arguments

date

A variable containing a date value or a character string containing a legitimate representation of a date value ( ISDATE (Date_Value) = .T.).

time

A variable containing a date time value.

localized

Logical. A variable containing .T. if a localized date is requested.

Description

CDOW() returns a character string containing the name of the day of the week for the specified Date. If the optional localized flag is true, report the localized day name. (Localized flag requires Version 10.5 or later)

Example

cdow(START) -> "Tuesday", if START contains 11/28/95
cdow( ctod( "05/15/95") ) ->  "Monday"

If you print form letters that mention dates in the body of the letter, you may want to create a field containing the day of the week. For example, "I'll see you on Monday" sounds more personal than "I'll see you on 5/15/95." Assume that your table has a date field, APPOINTMNT, which stores the date for a scheduled appointment. You can include a computed field right in the body of the letter; Alpha Anywhere calculates the expression when the letter is printed. For this letter, the expression is:

cdow(APPOINTMNT)

In Version 10.5, this function has an optional second logical parameter to force the function to honor the machine's regional settings when returning the day name, Localized as L.

See Also

• Date and Time Functions
• Character Functions

CMONTH Function

Syntax

Arguments

date

A variable containing a date value or a character string containing a legitimate representation of a date value ( ISDATE (Date_Value) = .T.).

time

A variable containing a date time value.

localized

Logical. A variable containing .T. if a localized month is requested.

Description

CMONTH() returns the Month_Name in the specified Date or Date_Time. If the optional localized flag is true, report the localized day name. (Localized flag requires Version 10.5 or later).

Example

cmonth(START) -> "March", if START contains 03/07/95
cmonth( ctod( "05/25/95") ) -> "May"

See Also

• Date and Time Functions

CONVERT_TYPE Function

Syntax

Arguments

SourceAny Type

A variable containing character, numeric, date, or logical data.

RequestedTypeCharacter

The requested data type. The type can be any Xbasic type listed below:

Type

Description

C

Character

D

Date

K

GUID

L

Logical

N

Numeric

T

Date Time

Y

Short Time

See Variable Data Types to learn more about Xbasic variable data types.

Returns

Output_ValueAny Type

Returns the value of Source variable as the requested data type. If the requested type is not supported or doesn't exist, the returned value will be a Character value.

Description

Converts a value from one data type to another.

Discussion

CONVERT_TYPE() converts variables from one data type to another, preserving the data if possible.

? convert_type("yes", "L")
= .T.

? convert_type(345, "C")
= "345"

? convert_type(now(), "N")
= "12/08/2018 02:32:17 27 am"

If the requested data type is not supported or invalid, CONVERT_TYPE() converts the value to a Character data type. For example:

' Converting to a dot variable "P" is not supported
result1 = convert_type(.F., "P")

' Data returned as type "C":
? typeof(result1)
= "C"

? result1
= "False"

See Also

• Character Conversion Functions
• Date and Time Functions
• Xbasic Variable Data Types

CShortTime Function

Syntax

Arguments

shorttimeShortime

A short time value. For example: 09:27:16 91 am

Description

The CShortTime() function converts a short time value into a character value (string) that can be used in a sort expression. Format is 0h0m0s3.

Discussion

Returns a character string representation of a short time value that can be sorted. The format is hhmmssP.

Example

dim st as Y
st = now()
? st
= 09:38:35 80 am

? cshorttime(st)
= "093835803"

See Also

• Date and Time Functions

CTIME Function

Syntax

Arguments

Time_Equivalent

A character string representation of a time value that can be sorted. The format is YYYMMDDhhmmssP

timeval

A time value. For example: 02/15/2006 09:27:16 91 am

Description

The CTIME() function converts a time value into a character value (string) that can be used in a sort expression. Format is YYYYMMDD0h0m0s3.

Discussion

Example

? ctime(now() )
= "20060215092839365"
dim tt as T
dim na as C = "Fred"
tt = now()
? tt
= 02/15/2006 09:27:16 91 am
? na + ctime(tt)
= "Fred20060215092716912"

See Also

• Date and Time Functions

CTOD Function

Syntax

Arguments

character

A variable containing a date value or a character string containing a legitimate representation of a date value ( < span class=Code1>ISDATE (Date_Representation) = .T. ).

Description

Converts a character string to a date value.

Discussion

CTOD() returns a Date value extracted from a character string. For more information about date formats, see the DATE_FORMAT()function. The two most frequent uses of CTOD() are: searching and filtering date fields, and converting character fields containing dates into real date fields. Note : If the setting for Fully Specified Years requires all dates to be fully specified CTOD returns a blank value for years specified as 2 numbers.

Assume that you just re-configured an existing table to add a new date field called START_DATE. This field is initially blank for all the records, so you want to put the date "12/12/95" in all the records. Instead of editing each record individually, use the Update builder to update all of the records at once with an operation. You can define the following update expression for START_DATE:

ctod("12/12/95")

The quotation marks are necessary to indicate that the data inside the parentheses is character data. CTOD converts the character date string to a date field type so that you can insert it into START_DATE. Note : A convenient alternative to CTOD() is enclosing the date values (without quotation marks) in curly brackets (e.g., {12/12/95}).

See Also

• Date and Time Functions
• STOD Function

CTODT Function

Syntax

Arguments

character

A character string containing a legitimate representation of a date time value.

Description

The CTODT() function converts a date and time string to a Date Time value (date + time).

Example

? ctodt("1/23/2003 11:45")
= 01/23/2003 11:45:00 00 am
? ctodt(dtoc(date() ) + " " + time() )
= 11/04/2003 03:57:00 00 pm

As of Version 10.5, if the 'am' or 'pm' flag is left out, Alpha Anywhere now assumes that the user is specifying a time using a 24 hour format. Previously, a time value of '00:00:00' was considered to be invalid. Now this is a valid 24 hour format time value.

See Also

• Date and Time Functions

CTOT Function

Syntax

Arguments

character

A character string containing a legitimate representation of a short time value.

Description

The CTOT() function converts a time string to a Short Time value.

Example

dim tc as C
tc = time()
? tc
= "15:47:05"
? ctot(tc1)
= 03:47:05 00 pm
? ctot("2:30 pm")
= 02:30:00 00 pm

See Also

• Date and Time Functions

CYEAR Function

Syntax

Arguments

date

A variable containing a date value or a character string containing a legitimate representation of a date value ( ISDATE (Date_Value) = .T.).

A variable containing a date time value.

Description

Converts a date to a character value of the form 'YYYY'.

Discussion

CYEAR() returns a character string (in the format "YYYY") containing the year specified in Date or Date_Time. You can combine the CYEAR() , CMONTH() , CDOW() , and DAY() functions to form custom date formats. For examples, see the DAY() function.

Example

cyear(START) -> "1995", if START contains 03/12/95
cyear( ctod( "05/19/94") ) -> "1994"

See Also

• Date and Time Functions
• Character Conversion Functions

Date and Time Conversion Matrix

Description

A list of Inputs and Outputs relating to date time functions.

See Also

• Date and Time Functions

Date and Time Format Elements

Description

A date format is created from the following date format elements.

To include separators in the formatted result, include separators in the format string. For example, "MON, d-yyyy". To use a format code a separator, precede the code with the escape character ("\").

Time formatting defaults to 24 hour time unless otherwise specified in the format.

Format Examples

curr = now()

? time("0h:0m",curr)
= "19:14"

? time("0h:0m a",curr)
= "07:14 p"

? time("dd-Month-yyyy",curr)
= "21-June-2021"

? time("Weekday, Mon dd, h:m am",curr)
= "Monday, Jun 21, 7:14 pm"

? time("X Weekday of Month",curr)
= "Twenty First Monday of June"

? time("h:m:s.3 a",curr)
= "7:14:59.224 p"

? time("0h:0m:0s.3 a",curr)
= "07:14:59.224 p"

? time("Current \Mont\h: Month",curr)
= "Current Month: June"

See Also

• Date and Time Functions
• DATE_FORMAT()
• Date Format Codes

Date and Time Functions

Description

Alpha Anywhere provides the following Date and Time functions.

See Also

• Predefined Date Formats
• Date and Time Format Codes
• Date and Time Conversion Matrix
• Date and Time Functions

DATE Function

Syntax

Returns

todays_dateDate

Returns the current date as a date type.

Description

Returns the current system date.

Discussion

DATE() returns today's date. The system date must be set at the DOS level (use the DOS DATE command). This function is useful for fields that should contain the current date.

Example

Assume that you want to use a range filter in View mode to display only the records for overdue accounts. If your table stores the date that an order was placed in a field called ORDERDATE, the following expression yields the number of days since the order was placed:

date() -ORDERDATE

You can generate a complete filter expression to find all open accounts over 30 days old by adding a check on a BALANCEDUE field. The filter is:

((date() - ORDERDATE) > 30) .AND. (BALANCEDUE > 0)

See Also

• NOW() Function
• TIME() Function

Date_FirstDayOfMonth Function

Syntax

Arguments

First Date

The first date of a month.

date

Optional. Default = today. The date to use when calculating the first day of the month.

Description

Returns the first day of the month for a given date. If no argument is supplied, first day of current month.

Discussion

The Date_FirstDayOfMonth() function returns the first day of a month.

Example

? Date_FirstDayofMonth()
= {06/01/2006}
? Date_FirstDayofMonth({7/4/06})
= {07/01/2006}

See Also

• Date and Time Functions

Date_FirstDayOfPreviousMonth Function

Syntax

Arguments

date

Optional. Default = today. The date to use when calculating the first day of the previous month.

Description

Returns the first day of the previous month for a given date. If no argument is supplied, returns last day of the previous month for the current date.

Discussion

The Date_FirstDayOfPreviousMonth() function returns the first day of the previous month.

Example

? Date_FirstDayOfPreviousMonth()
= {05/01/2006}
? Date_FirstDayOfPreviousMonth({7/4/06})
= {06/01/2006}

See Also

• Date and Time Functions

DATE_FORMAT Function

Syntax

Arguments

dateDate

A representation of a date that satisfies the ISDATE()function.

formatCharacter

The date format defined using date format elements. See Date and Time Format Elements for more information about defining a format.

Returns

Formatted_Date_Time_StringCharacter

Returns the formatted date.

Description

Formats a date value using a user defined format string

Discussion

DATE_FORMAT() returns a formatted character string representation of the Date_Value.

Example

dim dateString as C
dateString = date_format(DATE() , "MON, d-yyyy")
? dateString 
= "JAN, 11-2018"

See Also

• TIME() Function
• ISDATE() Function
• Date and Time Format Elements

DATE_FORMATS_BUILT_IN Function

Syntax

Description

Date formats for the dtoc() function

Discussion

The DATE_FORMATS_BUILT_IN() function displays the Data Format dialog box and returns the number of the selected format.

Example

? DATE_FORMATS_BUILT_IN()
= "4"

Limitations

Desktop applications only.

See Also

• Date and Time Functions
• DTOC()
• Predefined Date Formats

date_from_utc_date Function

Syntax

Arguments

utcFormat

Character

ReturnType

Character

Description

Convert a UTC date-time to a date or time

See Also

• Date and Time Functions

date_is_anniversary Function

Syntax

Arguments

date

*

referenceDate

Date

Description

Returns .t. if a date or time value has the same month and day as a ReferenceDate. If ReferenceDate is blank, then today's date is used as the ReferenceDate.

See Also

• Date and Time Functions

date_is_in_last_month Function

Syntax

Arguments

date

*

Description

Takes a date or time value and returns .t. if the date is in the previous Month

See Also

• Date and Time Functions

DATE_IS_IN_MONTH Function

Syntax

Arguments

date

A date value.

month

A month expressed as either a character string (e.g. "Feb", "February") or as a number.

Description

True if date is in specified month. Month can be a Character or Numeric value

Discussion

The DATE_IS_IN_MONTH() function determines if a Date value is in a specified Month.

Example

? date_is_in_month({3/15/03}, "February")
= .F.
? date_is_in_month({3/15/03}, 2)
= .F.
? date_is_in_month({3/15/03}, 3)
= .T.
? date_is_in_month({3/15/03}, "Mar")
= .T.

See Also

• Date and Time Functions

date_is_in_previous_quarter Function

Syntax

Arguments

date

*

Description

Takes a date or time value and returns .t. if the date is in the previous Quarter

See Also

• Date and Time Functions

date_is_in_previous_week Function

Syntax

Arguments

date

*

Description

Takes a date or time value and returns .t. if the date is in the week

See Also

• Date and Time Functions

date_is_in_previous_year Function

Syntax

Arguments

date

*

Description

Takes a date or time value and returns .t. if the date is in the previous year

See Also

• Date and Time Functions

date_is_in_same_week Function

Syntax

Arguments

date

*

referenceDate

Date

Description

Takes a date or time value and returns .t. if the date is in the same week as the week of the reference date

See Also

• Date and Time Functions

date_is_in_this_month Function

Syntax

Arguments

date

*

Description

Takes a date or time value and returns .t. if the date is in this Month

See Also

• Date and Time Functions

date_is_in_this_month_todate Function

Syntax

Arguments

date

*

Description

Takes a date or time value and returns .t. if the date is in this Month-to-date

See Also

• Date and Time Functions

date_is_in_this_quarter Function

Syntax

Arguments

date

*

Description

Takes a date or time value and returns .t. if the date is in this Quarter

See Also

• Date and Time Functions

date_is_in_this_quarter_todate Function

Syntax

Arguments

date

*

Description

Takes a date or time value and returns .t. if the date is in this Quarter

See Also

• Date and Time Functions

date_is_in_this_week Function

Syntax

Arguments

date

*

Description

Returns .t. if the date is in the current week.

See Also

• Date and Time Functions

date_is_in_this_week_todate Function

Syntax

Arguments

date

*

Description

Takes a date or time value and returns .t. if the date is in this week-to-date

See Also

• Date and Time Functions

date_is_in_this_year Function

Syntax

Arguments

date

*

Description

Takes a date or time value and returns .t. if the date is in this year

See Also

• Date and Time Functions

date_is_in_this_year_todate Function

Syntax

Arguments

date

*

Description

Takes a date or time value and returns .t. if the date is in this year-to-date

See Also

• Date and Time Functions

date_is_today Function

Syntax

Arguments

date

*

Description

Takes a date or time value and returns .t. if the date is today

See Also

• Date and Time Functions

date_is_yesterday Function

Syntax

Arguments

date

*

Description

Takes a date or time value and returns .t. if the date is yesterday

See Also

• Date and Time Functions

Date_LastDayOfMonth Function

Syntax

Arguments

LastDate

The last date of a month.

date

Optional. Default = today. The date to use when calculating the last day of a month.

Description

Returns the last day of the month for a given date. If no argument is supplied, last day of current month.

Example

? Date_LastDayofMonth()
= {06/30/2006}
? Date_LastDayofMonth({7/4/06})
= {07/31/2006}

See Also

• Date and Time Functions

Date_LastDayOfPreviousMonth Function

Syntax

Arguments

LastDate

The last date of the previous month.

date

Optional. Default = today. The date to use when calculating the last day of the previous month.

Description

The Date_LastDayOfPreviousMonth() function returns the last day of the previous month for a given date. If no argument is supplied, returns last day of the previous month for the current date.

Example

? Date_LastDayOfPreviousMonth()
= {05/31/2006}
? Date_LastDayOfPreviousMonth({7/4/06})
= {06/30/2006}

See Also

• Date and Time Functions

date_quarternumber Function

Syntax

Arguments

date

*

Description

Takes as date or time value and returns the Quarter in which the date falls

See Also

• Date and Time Functions

date_quarterstartend Function

Syntax

Arguments

Year

Numeric

quarter

Numeric

Description

Returns two properties - .StartDate and .EndDate with the start and end date for the specified quarter.

See Also

• Date and Time Functions

date_to_utc_date Function

Syntax

Arguments

dateTime

Any type

Description

Convert a date or time to a UTC date-time

See Also

• Date and Time Functions

DATE_VALUE Function

Syntax

Arguments

year

The four digit integer representation of a year. Numeric

month

The one or two digit integer representation of a month. Numeric

day

The one or two digit integer representation of a day of the month. Numeric

Description

Returns a date value. Errors if date is out of range

Discussion

DATE_VALUE() returns a Date_Value for the specified year, month and day. This function is useful because it works regardless of what regional settings (e.g. U.S., United Kingdom, etc.) are in effect.

Example

date_value(2000,2,1) -> {2/1/2000} (assuming regional settings are set for the U.S).
date_value(2000,2,1) -> {1/2/2000} (assuming regional settings are set for the U.K).

See Also

• Date and Time Functions

DAY Function

Syntax

Arguments

date

A variable containing a date value or a character string containing a legitimate representation of a date value ( ISDATE(Date) = .T.).

Date_Time

A variable containing a date-time value (type T).

Description

DAY() returns an integer corresponding to the day of the month for the Date or Date_Time value.

Example

day(START) -> 9, if START contains 07/09/91
day({1/15/2004}) -> 15

You can create your own custom date formats for reports, forms, mailing labels, and form letters using a combination of the DAY() , CMONTH(), and CYEAR()functions. For example, to display the BIRTHDATE field as "December 18, 1991" in a form letter, define a calculated field using the following expression:

cmonth(BIRTHDATE) + " " + ltrim( str( day(BIRTHDATE) ) )  + ", " + cyear(BIRTHDATE)

In this expression, DAY() returns the day of the month, STR()converts the number to a character field, and LTRIM()strips off leading blanks. You can also use the MDY()function to return formatted date strings.

MDY(BIRTHDATE) -> "May 25, 1968"

See Also

• Date and Time Functions

DAY_NUMBER Function

Syntax

Arguments

day_name

The name of the week (at least the first three letters).

Description

DAY_NUMBER() returns the number of a given day. You only need to specify the first three characters of the Day_Name. Sunday is 1.

Example

day_number("sunday") -> 1
day_number("mon") -> 2

See Also

• Date and Time Functions

DMY Function

Syntax

Arguments

date

Date A variable containing a date value or a character string containing a legitimate representation of a date value ( ISDATE (Date_Value) = .T.).

Date_Time

A variable containing a date time value.

Description

Converts a date to a character string in the 'DD Month YYYY' format.

Discussion

DMY() returns a formatted character string in the "DD Month YYYY" format for the specified Date or Date_Time value.

Example

dmy({12-18-92}) ->  "18 December 1992"

See Also

• Date and Time Functions

DOW Function

Syntax

Arguments

date

A variable containing a date value or a character string containing a legitimate representation of a date value ( ISDATE (Date_Value) = .T.).

Date_Time

A variable containing a date time value.

Description

DOW() returns an integer indicating the day of the week for the Date or Date_Time value.

Number

Day of the Week

1

Sunday

2

Monday

3

Tuesday

4

Wednesday

5

Thursday

6

Friday

7

Saturday

Example

dow(START) -> 2 if START contains 11/27/95
dow(CTOD("05/19/95")) -> 6

Suppose you want to determine whether orders are entered into the table at a constant rate, or if certain days are busier than others. The table contains a date field, ORDERDATE, indicating when the orders are entered. First, create an index using the expression:

dow(ORDERDATE)

Next, create a report with one level of grouping. For the group break expression, use the same expression. In the Group 1 footer, define and place a calculated summary field that will print a count of the number of records for the current group.

See Also

• Date and Time Functions

DOW_ISO Function

Syntax

Arguments

Day_of_Week

The ISO day of the week (Monday = 1, Sunday = 7).

date

The date to be analyzed.

Description

Returns the ISO 8601 Day of Week # where Monday is day 1 and Sunday is day 7

Discussion

The DOW_ISO() function returns the ISO day of the week.

Example

? dow_iso(date() )
= 4
? dow_iso( ctod( "01/19/2006") )
= 4

See Also

• Date and Time Functions

DTOC Function

Syntax

Arguments

Date_ValueDate Time

A variable containing a date or date time value.

FormatLogical

Default = "MM/DD/YYYY". Refer to Predefined Date Formats below.

localizedLogical

Default = .f.. If true, the date is localized using the regional language setting. This only applies to formats where the name of the month is printed.

Returns

Formatted_DateCharacter

The Date_Value formatted into a character string.

Description

Converts a date into a character value in the form 'MM/DD/YYYY'.

Discussion

DTOC() returns a character string in the specified Format for the specified Date or Date_Time value. DTOC() is useful for indexing a table when month order is more important than chronological date order (which orders first by year, then month, then day).

If you have a multi-field index involving both date and character fields, use the CDATE() function if you want a chronological date order.

Predefined Date Formats

The following formats can be used with the DTOC() function.

Format Code

Meaning

1-

12-31-2015

2-

21-12-2015

1/

12/31/2015

2/

31/12/2015

3

31 December 2015

4

December 31, 2015

8

December 31st, 2015

5-

12-15

6-

12-31-15

7-

31-12-15

5/

12/15

6/

12/31/15

7/

31/12/15

9-

31-Dec-15

10

31 Dec 2015

11-

15-12-31

12-

2015-12-31

11/

15/12/31

12/

2015/12/31

11.

15.12.31

12.

2015.12.31

3C

31 DECEMBER 2015

4C

DECEMBER 31, 2015

8C

DECEMBER 31ST, 2015

9C-

31-DEC-15

10C

31 DEC 2015

Examples

dim now as D
now = now()
? now
= {12/12/2017}

? dtoc(now)
= "12/12/2017"

? dtoc(now,"12.")
= "2017.12.12"

? dtoc(now,"10",.f.)
= "12 Dec 2017"

' System Locale is set to France (Belgium):
? dtoc(now,"10",.t.)
= "12 déc 2017"

dim now2 as T
now2 = now()
? now2
= 12/12/2017 10:58:20 01 am

? dtoc(now2)
= "12/12/2017"

? dtoc(now2,"6-")
= "12-12-17"

? dtoc(now2,"4C",.f.)
= "DECEMBER 12, 2017"

' System Locale is set to France (Belgium):
? dtoc(now2,"4C",.t.)
= "DéCEMBRE 12, 2017"

See Also

• Date and Time Functions
• Predefined Date Formats
• Date and Time Format Elements

DTOS Function

Syntax

Arguments

Date_Time_ValueDate

A variable containing a date value or a character string containing a legitimate representation of a date value (ISDATE(Date_Value) = .T.).

Returns

Formatted_DateCharacter

The Date_Value formatted into a character string.

Description

Converts a date into a character value in the form 'YYYYMMDD'.

Discussion

DTOS() converts a Date_Time_Value to a Formatted_Date character string in the form "YYYYMMDD." This function is useful for constructing multi-level indexes that contain both character and date fields.

Indexes containing the DTOS() function order dates chronologically (year, then month, then day), while those containing DTOC() order dates by month, day, and year.

Examples:

INV_DATE = {12/18/1993}
? dtos(INV_DATE)
= "19931218"

Assume you want to order an employee table by department and within each department by seniority. The table has a character field, DEPT, and a date field, STARTDATE. Use the following index expression:

DEPT + dtos(START)

The following Employee table shows the order created by this index:

Compare this result with the DTOC() function. If the DTOC() function is used in the above index expression instead of DTOS(), the following ordering results:

Entering search criteria to search on a date field presents a problem because you cannot type in a date directly as a text string. You must either surround the text you enter with the CTOD() function, or use a function to convert the date field to a character field before comparing it with the text.

If you want to search a date field, BIRTHDAY, for the date, "September 20, 1966," you can enter the following criteria:

dtos({09/20/66}) -> 19660920
dtos(BIRTHDAY) = "19660920" or
BIRTHDAY = ctod("09/20/1966") or
BIRTHDAY = ctod("09/20/66") or
BIRTHDAY = {9/20/66}

See Also

• Date and Time Functions
• Predefined Date Formats
• Date and Time Format Elements

FixDateString Function

Syntax

Arguments

Formatted_Date

A new version of the date with rearranged day, month, and year values.

dateString

A date string containing day, month, and year values.

dateFormat

A character string containing "D", "M", and "Y" separated by a delimiter.

Description

Takes a date string and a date format and transforms the date string so that it matches the format that Alpha Anywhere expects (based on the current Regional Settings configuration). The year portion MUST be the last part of the date format. I.e. Does not support formats like YYYY/mm/dd

Discussion

This function is only of use to users outside the United States who are hosting their web applications on servers in the United States, where the date format on the server does not match the date format that users of the application will be using. The function is useful in custom Xbasic pages. It takes a date string and converts it into a new date string that is based on the regional settings of the machine where Alpha Anywhere is running.

Example

For example, if the server is running on a computer that expects dates to be in M/D/Y format and the user is in the UK where the date format is D/M/Y then:

? fixDateString("31/12/04","d/m/y") 
 = "12/31/04"

See Also

• Date and Time Functions

FORMAT_DATA Function

Syntax

Arguments

input_valueCharacter Date Logical Numeric

The value to format.

format_codeCharacter

A format string. Refer to Display Formats.

fld_widthNumeric

Default = 20. The maximum expected length of the formatted string. Value must be larger than the length of the formatted string. For numeric values only.

fld_decNumeric

Default = 2. The number of characters after the decimal point. Output will be padded with zeros. For numeric values only.

Description

Formats an input string using a format_code. Returns a character string.

Discussion

The FORMAT_DATA() function formats a character, date, numeric, or logical value. For numeric inputs, FORMAT_DATA() is the same as calling ALLTRIM(STR(...)).

? format_data("edwaRd","Z")
= "Edward"

? format_data(date(),"3C")
= "16 MARCH 2017"

? format_data(.t.,"2")
= "Yes"

? format_data(1234567.89,",B*")
= "********1,234,567.89"

dim nn as N
nn = 12345678900000.456
? format_data(nn,"$",22)
= "$12,345,678,900,000.46"

See Also

• Character Formatting Functions
• Predefined Display Formats
• Date and Time Functions

GetTimeZoneOffset Function

Syntax

Arguments

Offset

The difference between the time zone of the computer and Greenwich time in hours.

Description

The GetTimeZoneOffset() function returns difference between the time zone of the computer and Greenwich Mean Time in hours.

Returns the number of hours the current timezone is offset from GMT.

Example

? gettimezoneoffset()
= -5

See Also

• Date and Time Functions

GMT Function

Syntax

Arguments

time_format

Optional. Default = "hh:mm:ss". The format for the time value. Character

Description

GMT() returns Greenwich Mean Time on the system clock as a Formatted_Short_Time ('HH:MM:SS'). For information on the optional Format_String parameter.

Example

put description here

gmt() -> "19:31:18"

See Also

• Time Format Codes
• Date and Time Functions

Holidays

Description

This panel lets you enter holidays to be used in your Alpha Anywhere databases.

One of the most useful functions of entering holidays is that when Alpha Anywhere computes the number of business days between two dates, the holidays listed here will not be counted. For example:

ADD_BUS_DAYS()
BUS_DAYS_BETWEEN()

• To add a holiday, click the Add button. You will be prompted for the name and date of the holiday.

• To remove a holiday, highlight the holiday in the list and click the Remove button.

• To change the name or date of a holiday you have already entered, highlight the holiday in the list and click the Edit button. You will be prompted again for the name and date.

• The Sort by name and Sort by date radio buttons will sort the list accordingly. This can be useful if you are looking for a specific holiday.

See Also

• Date and Time Functions

httpdate Function

Syntax

Arguments

dateCharacter Date Time

The date to convert. The date can be specifeid as a Date, Datetime, or Character object.

Returns

DateStrCharacter

An HTTP compliant formatted date/time string.

Description

Creates an HTTP compliant date/time string

Example

'Converting date string to HTTP Date
dim todayC as C = "2/23/2017 11:06 AM"
? todayC
= "2/23/2017 11:06 AM"

? httpdate(todayC)
= "Thu, 23 Feb 2017 16:06:00 GMT"

'Converting date to HTTP Date
dim todayD as d = date()
? todayD
= {02/23/2017}

? httpdate(todayD)
= "Thu, 23 Feb 2017 05:00:00 GMT"

'Converting Datetime to HTTP Date
dim todayDT as T = now()
? todayDT
= 02/23/2017 11:06:22 01 am

? httpdate(todayDT)
= "Thu, 23 Feb 2017 16:06:22 GMT"

international_days_of_week Function

Syntax

Arguments

C Result =

Days of the week, one per line

options

(optional) Comma-delimited list of parameter-value expressions, such as: language=cultureCode, short, shortest, start-dayName

Description

Returns day of week, using current culture settings

Example

? international_days_of_week()
= Sunday
Monday
...
 
? international_days_of_week("start-monday,shortest")
= Mo
Tu
...
 
' german
? international_days_of_week("language=de")
= Sonntag
Montag
..

The months and days returned are in UTF8 , so when dealing with the Web applications, you can take the output as is. However, when working from a desktop application (which assumes ACP) , you will need to call convert_utf8_to_acp()

See Also

• international_months Function
• Date and Time Functions

international_months Function

Syntax

Arguments

result

Names of months, one per line

options

(optional) Comma-delimited list of parameter-value expressions, such as: language=cultureCode, short, shortest

Description

Returns name for all months, using current culture settings

Example

? international_months()
= January
February
...
 
' spanish
? international_months("language=es")
= enero
febrero
...

See Also

• international_days_of_week Function
• Date and Time Functions

JDATE Function

Syntax

Arguments

date

Optional. Default = DATE(). A variable containing a date value or a character string containing a legitimate representation of a date value ( ISDATE ( Date_Value ) = .T.).

Description

Returns a number which is the Julian equivalent to a specified date.

Discussion

JDATE() returns the integer Julian date equivalent of Date_Value. The Julian date is an integer value measured in days from a special starting date. You can use the resulting value with other numeric values to do special computations on dates. For example, to compute the "day of the year", use this expression: JDATE( Date_Value ) - JDATE(CTOD("1/1/" + YEAR( Date_Value ))) + 1.

Example

?jdate({1/5/95})
= 2449723
?jdate({3/10/95})
= 449787
' computes the "day of the year" assuming today is 7/12/99
? jdate() - jdate({1/1/99})
= 192

The following expression returns the day of the year.

? jdate( date() )-jdate( ctod( "01/01/"+cyear( date() ) ) ) + 1
= 327

See Also

• Date and Time Functions

JTODATE Function

Syntax

Arguments

number

An integer value representing a Julian date, as Produced by the JDATE() function. Numeric

Description

Returns a date value which is the equivelant to the supplied Julian number.

Discussion

JTODATE() converts a Julian date (which is an integer value measured in days) to an Alpha Anywhere Date value. After you have used JDATE() to convert dates to numbers (in order to perform computations on them), you can use JTODATE() to display the results as Dates. NOTE: JDATE() now returns values in a numeric format compatible with input to JTODATE(). For example, if the current date is 9/21/1995, then:

? jdate({09/21/1995})
= 2449982.000000
 ? jtodate(2449982.000000)
= {09/21/1995}

Example

' if the current date is 9/21/1995
? jtodate( jdate( DATE() + 7) )
= {09/28/1995}

How to Import a Julian Date

A Julian date is a number cannot be imported directly into a date field. To import a julian date:

1.

Import the Julian date data into a numeric field (e.g. numeric_field ).

2.

Select the Operation tab of the Control Panel.

3.

On the Create New Operation dialog box, select "Update Records" from the Select Operation list.

4.

Select your table from the Select Table/Set list.

5.

Click Create Using Genie.

6.

Click the General tab.

7.

Select "Assign a Calculated Value to a Field" and click Next >.

8.

Select the date field (e.g. date_field ) of your table in the Which field would you like to update? list.

9.

Enter the expression jtodate(numeric_field) in the Enter the expression for the calculated value field.

10.

Click Next >, Next >, Next >, and Finish.

11.

Enter a name for the operation and click OK, OK, and OK.

See Also

• Date and Time Functions

MDY Function

Syntax

Arguments

date

A variable containing a date value or a character string containing a legitimate representation of a date value ( ISDATE (Date_Value) = .T.).

Description

Returns a formatted character string in the 'Month DD, YYYY' format.

Discussion

MDY() returns a Formatted_Date in the "Month DD, YYYY" format for the specified Date_Value.

Example

mdy({12-18-95}) ->  "December 18, 1995"
mdy(BIRTHDAY) ->  "November 25, 1995", assuming BIRTHDAY contains 11-25-95
mdy(date() )-> Current system date

See Also

• Date and Time Functions

MONTH Function

Syntax

Arguments

date

A variable containing a date value or a character string containing a legitimate representation of a date value ( ISDATE ( Date_Value ) = .T.).

date_time

A variable containing a date-time value (type T).

Description

Returns the number of the month in a date.

Discussion

MONTH() returns an integer equal to the month number (1-12) of the specified Date or Date_Time value..

Example

month(START) -> 3, if START contains 03/10/88
month( ctod( "12/12/88") ) ->  12

The following example computes the current quarter.

ceiling(month(date() )/3)

See Also

• Date and Time Functions

MONTH_END Function

Syntax

Arguments

date

A date constant or variable.

Description

Computes the date on which a month ends for any given date.

Discussion

MONTH_END() returns the date of the last day of the month in which date occurs.

Example

? month_end({7/12/2002})
= {7/31/2002}

See Also

• Date and Time Functions

MONTH_NUMBER Function

Syntax

Arguments

month

The English name of a month. The MONTH_NUMBER() function is case insensitive. Character

Description

Returns the month number for a given month name

Discussion

MONTH_NUMBER() returns the month number (1 to 12) for a given month name. Returns 0 when the Month_Name expression cannot be interpreted.

Example

month_number("ApRil")   -> 4.000000
month_number("January 20, 1950")   ->   1.000000
month_number("1/20/50")   -> 0.000000

See Also

• Date and Time Functions

MONTH_START Function

Syntax

Arguments

date

A variable containing a date value or a character string containing a legitimate representation of a date value ( ISDATE (Date_Value) = .T.).

Description

Computes the date on which a month starts for any given date.

Discussion

MONTH_START() returns the date of the first day of the month in which date occurs.

Example

month_start({7/12/2002} -> {7/1/2002}

put description here

See Also

• Date and Time Functions

NOW Function

Syntax

Arguments

gmt_timeLogical

Default = .F. If flag is .T., then the time is returned as GMT. If flag is .F., time is returned as the local system time.

Returns

Date_TimeTime

Returns the current date and time as a time data type.

Description

Returns the current time. The time can be returned as either local time (default) or GMT.

Discussion

NOW() returns the current date and time, correct to the millisecond, in the Time data type. The time can be returned as either local time or GMT time.

? now()
= 01/16/2003 10:24:51 09 am

' Return time as GMT
? now(.T.)
= 01/16/2003 03:24:51 09 pm

dim t1 as T
dim t2 as T
t1 = now()
t2 = now()

? t2-t1 
= 5.440000

Comparing NOW() with TIME()

Both the NOW() and TIME() function will return the current time. The difference between the two methods is that NOW() returns the current time as a time type while TIME() returns a character string. As a result, if you try to assign the value returned by the TIME() function into a time variable, a "variable type mismatch" error will occur:

dim t3 as T

' the following assignment will cause an error because the time function
' returns a character string, not a time value:
t3 = time()
ERROR: variable type mismatch

The TIME() function can also be used to format an existing time value. For example:

? time("MM/dd/yyyy 0h:0m:0s 2 am", now(.T.))
= "01/16/2003 03:24:51 09 pm"

See Also

• DATE() Function
• TIME() Function

NTH_DOW Function

Syntax

Arguments

dayName

Case insensitive English name or abbreviation for the day of the week.

month

1 (January) through 12 (December)

year

Four digit year (1998). Numeric

occurrence

A positive integer. Numeric

Description

Finds the date for the 'n'th day in a month. e.g. the 4th Thursday for November in 2005

Discussion

NTH_DOW() returns the date for the Nth occurrence of the specified day of the week starting in the specified month and year.

Example

dim cs as C
cs = nth_dow("friday", 12, 1999, 2)
cs   ->   "{12/10/1999}"
cs = nth_dow("friday", 12, 1999, 8)
cs   ->   "{01/21/2000}"
cs = nth_dow("mon",12,2002,0)
cs   -> " { / / }"

See Also

• Date and Time Functions

ODBC_DT_TO_D Function

Syntax

Arguments

odbc_datetime

Date time string in the format "YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS.SSS". Character

Description

Converts a character field containing a Date-Time value in format "YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS.SSS" to a date field.

Discussion

ODBC_DT_TO_D() converts a character Date_Time_String of format "YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS.SSS" to a date value. This function is useful when you link to an ODBC data source that has a date/time field. Since Alpha Anywhere does not have the corresponding field type, the data is displayed as a character value. Use this function to create a calculated field that extracts just the date portion of the date-time value.

Example

odbc_dt_to_d("2003-01-15 11:46:30.003")   ->   {01/15/2003}

See Also

• Date and Time Functions

Predefined Date Formats

Description

The following formats can be used with the DTOC() function.

Predefined Date Formats

Format Code

Meaning

1-

12-31-2015

2-

21-12-2015

1/

12/31/2015

2/

31/12/2015

3

31 December 2015

4

December 31, 2015

8

December 31st, 2015

5-

12-15

6-

12-31-15

7-

31-12-15

5/

12/15

6/

12/31/15

7/

31/12/15

9-

31-Dec-15

10

31 Dec 2015

11-

15-12-31

12-

2015-12-31

11/

15/12/31

12/

2015/12/31

11.

15.12.31

12.

2015.12.31

3C

31 DECEMBER 2015

4C

DECEMBER 31, 2015

8C

DECEMBER 31ST, 2015

9C-

31-DEC-15

10C

31 DEC 2015

Example

dim dd as D
dd = date()
? dtoc(dd,"1-")
= "01-06-2004"
? dtoc(dd,"4")
= "January 6, 2004"

See Also

• Date and Time Functions
• Date and Time Elements
• DTOC()

ProgressTimed Function

Syntax

Arguments

seconds

The number of seconds until the progress bar completes. Numeric

Description

Displays a progress bar for the specified number of seconds.

Discussion

The ProgressTimed() function displays a progress dialog box that completes in Specified seconds.

The following script displays a progress bar that completes in 10 seconds.

progresstimed(10)

Limitations

Desktop applications only.

See Also

• ProgressAuto()
• ProgressPercent()
• {WAITDIALOG}

SCANTIME Function

Syntax

Arguments

time_str

A properly formatted date/time value as specified by Time Format Codes and Year, Month, Day, and Week Format Codes. Character

Format

A date/time format as specified by Time Format Codes and Date Format Codes. Character

oldtime

Type

Description

Converts time string to time - uses format to parse the time - optional third parameter is old time to get non-specified values from.

Discussion

SCANTIME() returns a Time variable, by parsing the date time value specified by Formatted_Date_Time according to the format specified by Format_String. Refer to Time Format Codes.

Example

time("dd/MM/yyyy") ->    "26/08/1999"
scantime("26/08/1999", "dd/MM/yy")  -> 08/26/199912:00:00 00 am
time("X of Month yyyy") -> "Twenty Sixth of August 1999"
scantime("Twenty Sixth of August 1999", "X of Month yyyy") -> 08/26/199912:00:00 00 am
TimeVal = scantime("26/08/1999", "dd/MM/yy")
typeof(TimeVal) -> "T"

See Also

• Date and Time Functions

ShortTime_Extract Function

Syntax

Arguments

Result

The number of time units specified in Time_Part.

shortTime

The short time value to analyze.

TimePart

The part of the short time value to return. "h" = hours, "m" = minutes, "s" = seconds

Description

Extracts hours, minutes, or seconds from a Short time value. TimePart is 'h', 'm', or 's'

Discussion

The ShortTime_Extract() function extracts the hours, minutes or seconds from a short time value.

Example

dim st as Y
st = ctot("8:32 45.345 pm")
  ? shortTime_extract(st,"h") 
= 20

  ? shortTime_extract(st,"m") 
= 32

  ? shortTime_extract(st,"s")
= 45.345
? if(shortTime_extract(st,"h") > 11, "pm",  "am")
= "pm"

See Also

• Date and Time Functions

STOD Function

Syntax

Arguments

cDateCharacter

A character representation of a date in the format YYYYMMDD.

Returns

DDateDate

A date value.

Description

Convert a date in YYYYMMDD format to {MM/DD/YYYY}

Discussion

The STOD() function converts a character representation of a date into a date value. STOD() generates an error if the input is invalid.

Example

dim char_date as C = "19500512"
? stod(char_date)
= {05/12/1950}

See Also

• Date and Time Functions
• DTOS Function
• CTOD Function

Time and Date Functions

Description

Descriptions and examples of time and date functions.

1. Create a new A5W page with the following content.

   <%a5
   dim ultext as C = "Four score and seven years ago"
   dim extraspaces as C = " Four score "
   dim allcaps as C = "SEVEN YEARS AGO"
   %>
   <html>
   <head>
   <meta name="generator" content="Alpha Anywhere HTML Editor">
   <title>Date and Time Functions</title>
   </head>
   <body>
   <br>
   <h1><font face=Verdana color=#0000ff>Date and time functions</font></h1>
   <font face=Verdana size=2><ul>
   <%a5
   ? "<li>ADD_BUS_DAYS()computes a new date. For example ADD_BUS_DAYS({1/1/84},180) adds 180 business days to 1/1/84, producing " + ADD_BUS_DAYS({1/1/84},180) + "<br>"
   ? "<li>ADDMONTHS()computes a new date. For example ADDMONTHS({1/31/84},3) adds 3 months to 1/31/84, producing " + ADDMONTHS({1/31/84},3) + "<br>"
   ? "<li>DATE()returns today's date. For example DATE()returns " + DATE()+ "<br>"
   ? "<li>DATE_VALUE()returns a computed date. For example DATE_VALUE(2004, 8, 23) returns " + DATE_VALUE(2004, 8, 23) + "<br>"
   ? "<li>DTOC()produces a formatted date. For example, DTOC(DATE(),\"4\") produces " + DTOC(DATE(),"4") + "<br>"
   ? "<li>NOW()returns the current date and time, but the default HTML presentation of NOW()returns " + NOW()+ "<br>"
   ? "<li>TIME()returns the current system time. For example TIME()returns " + TIME()+ "<br>"
   ? "<li>TOTIME()returns a formatted time based on the number of seconds past midnight. For example TOTIME(12400,12,0) returns " + TOTIME(12400,12,0) + "<br>"
   %>
   </ul></font>
   <font face=Verdana>Check out <a href="sys_resolve_url("https://documentation.alphasoftware.com/documentation/pages/index?search=Date%20and%20Time%20Functions")">
   <font face=Verdana>Date and Time Functions</a> for more information.</font>
   </body>
   </html>

   • Note in this example.

     You must surround a date value expressed in numbers with "{}".

   • HTML displays a Time value (which contains both date and time) as a date only.

   • There are multiple built-in date and time formats. The TOTIME(12400,12,0) function uses format 12. The DTOC(DATE(),"4") function uses format "4".

   • Alpha Anywhere has more than 50 character manipulation for computing, formatting, and displaying date and time values.

2. Click File > Save As to save your page as "Date and Time Functions".

3. Click the 'lightning' icon to run the page in Live Preview. The result should look like this.

   • Function

     Description

     ADD_BUS_DAYS()

     Adds or subtracts days to a date to return a new date.

     ADDMONTHS()

     Adds or subtracts months from a date to return a new date.

     DATE()

     Returns today's date.

     DATE_VALUE()

     Returns a date based on year, month, and day numbers.

     DTOC()

     Formats a date value.

     NOW()

     Returns the current date and time.

     TIME()

     Returns the current system time.

     TOTIME()

     Returns a time value based on the number of seconds past midnight.

   

TIME Function

Syntax

Arguments

time_formatCharacter

Optional. Default = "0h:0m:0s". A time format created according to the rules of Date and Time Format Elements.

timeTime

Default = NOW(). A time value to format.

Returns

Formatted_Date_TimeCharacter

Returns the current time as a formatted character string.

Description

Returns the current time on the system clock as a string value using the format 'HH:MM:SS', optional format controls other times, passed in time type can be used in place of the current time.

Discussion

TIME() returns a date time value containing a formatted Date Time value. If time_format is not specified, the time is returned in the format HH:MM:SS. The system time is obtained from the system clock (which can be set from DOS).

For information on performing time arithmetic, see the TOSECONDS() and TOTIME() functions.

The optional time_format parameter allows you to create custom date and time formats.

Example

? time("0h:0m:0s:2")
= "02:02:30:22"

? time("h:0m:0s:2")
= "2:02:30:22"

? time("0h:0m:s:2 AM")
= "02:02:30:22 AM"

? time("Weekday Month x, yyyy")
= "Friday January 29th, 1999"

? time("dd-Mon-yy")
= "29-Jan-99"

Converting a Time value to a Character value:

? time("",now())
= "01/11/2018 11:53:46 21 am"

? t1
= 01/11/2018 11:55:11 02 am

? time("0h-0m-0s.2", t1)
= "11-55-11.02"

See Also

• NOW() Function
• DATE() Function

time_gmt_to_local Function

Syntax

Arguments

timeValTime

GTM time value to convert.

offsetNumeric

The number of minutes that local time is after/before GMT. E.g. if the local time zone is GMT-4, the offset would be -4 * 60 or -240.

Returns

resultTime

Returns the GMT time converted to local time.

Description

Converts GMT time to local time.

Discussion

The time_gmt_to_local() function converts a time value in GMT to local time. The local time is determined by the offset.

In a web application that makes Ajax callbacks, the request automatically includes the offset value for the client. If this function is called in server-side code as part of an Ajax callback, it is not necessary to pass in a value for the offset.

Example

dim offset as N = getTimeZoneOffset()

? offset
= -4

? time_gmt_to_local(now(), offset * 60)
= 09/18/2020 11:14:23 40 am

See Also

• date_to_utc_date()
• getTimeZoneOffset()

time_to_unixtimestamp Function

Syntax

Arguments

timevalueTime

A time value to convert to a Unix timestamp.

Returns

ResultNumeric

Returns a Unix timestamp value.

Description

Converts a time value to a Unix timestamp value.

A unix timestamp is typically referred to as "Epoch" time, and is normally calculated from GMT (or UTC time), so the time passed into the function should be GMT time to get Epoch time.

Example to get current Epoch time:

dim currTime as T
dim getGMTTime as L
getGMTTime = .T.

currTime = now(getGMTTime)
? currTime
= 03/20/2017 10:07:39 45 pm

? time_to_unixtimestamp(currTime)
= 1490047659.459

See Also

• Date and Time Functions

TIME_VAR Function

Syntax

Arguments

Date_Time_Value

A Time variable with the specified date time value.

year

The four digit year. Numeric

month

The number of the month (January = 1). One or two digits. Numeric

day

The day of the month. One or two digits. Numeric

hour

The hour of the day (noon = 12). One or two digits. If you use a 12 hour notation, use the AM_PM field to specify before or after mid-day. Numeric

minutes

The minute of the hour. One or two digits. Numeric

seconds

The seconds of the minute. Decimal values are allowed. Numeric

am_pm

Specifies before or after mid-day. Character. Optional. "a" = before mid-day, "p" = after mid-day

Description

Returns a time variable

Discussion

The TIME_VAR() function creates a date time variable (type T). This function is very useful when you want to compute the elapsed time between two date time values that cross date boundaries.

Example

? Time_Var(2003,5,15,12,55,30.523,"a")
= 05/15/2003 12:55:30 52 am
? typeof(Time_Var(2003,5,15,12,55,30.523,"a"))
= "T"
? Time_Var(2003,5,15,22,55,30.523)
= 05/15/2003 10:55:30 52 pm

put description here

See Also

• Date and Time Functions

timez Function

Syntax

Arguments

time_format

Character

time

*

Description

Same as time(), but returns a null string if time is a null value.

See Also

• Date and Time Functions

TOSECONDS Function

Syntax

Arguments

character

A time value in one of the following formats:"h:m:s am/pm", "h:m:s", "h:m"

Description

Converts a time value to seconds.

Discussion

Converts a Formatted_Time containing a time value to an integer Count equal to the number of seconds past midnight. You typically use TOSECONDS() to perform time arithmetic to compute the elapsed time between a starting and ending time, or to compute an ending time from a start time and an elapsed time. The TOSECONDS() function supports fractional seconds, e.g. toseconds("3:23:05.23 pm").

Example

toseconds("23") ->  23
toseconds("12:23") ->  44,580
toseconds("2:3:15") ->  7,395
toseconds("2:3:15 PM") ->  50,595

Assume you stored the time at which an event started in a field called START, and the time at which the event ended in a field called end. To compute the duration of the event, you use the following expression:

toseconds(end) - toseconds(START)

See Also

• Date and Time Format Elements
• Date and Time Functions

TOTIME Function

Syntax

Arguments

secondsNumeric

The number of seconds past midnight.

format_codeNumeric

One of the following formats.

Format Parameter Value

Format

0

ss

1

hh:mm

2

hh:mm:ss

3

ddd:hh:mm:ss

11

hh:mm AM/PM

12

hh:mm:ss AM/PM

13

ddd:hh:mm:ss AM/PM

decimal_placesNumeric

The number of decimal places for seconds. The integer value can be from 0 to 3.

Returns

Formatted_Short_TimeCharacter

Returns the formatted time value.

Description

Converts a time value to a formatted time character string.

Discussion

TOTIME() returns a formatted character string containing a time based on the specified number of seconds past midnight. The resulting formatted string can be in one of seven formats specified by the format code, and can contain up to three decimal places for seconds.

Example

? totime(125, 2, 0) 
= "0:02:05"

? totime(863.5, 12, 1)
= "0:14:23.5 AM"

You may often need to compute an event's ending time, given the event's start time and duration. For example, assume that an event's start time is stored in START and the event duration (expressed as hh:mm) is stored in DURATION. You can use the following expression to return the time that the event ended:

totime((toseconds(START) + toseconds(DURATION), 1, 0)

If you have imported a time value from Microsoft Excel as a character or numeric value and you wish to convert it to a Short Time value, the following expressions will do the job.

dim dat as C
dat = .345
? totime((val(dat) * 86400),1,0)
= "8:17"

dim dat2 as N
dat2 = .345
? totime(dat2 * 86400,1,0)
= "8:17"

See Also

• Date and Time Format Elements
• Date and Time Functions

TZ_OFFSET_TO_C Function

Syntax

Returns

OffsetCharacter

The difference between the computer's time zone and Greenwich Mean Time in hours.

Description

The TZ_OFFSET_TO_C() function calls the GetTimeZoneOffset()function and formats the result as a character string.

Example

? tz_offset_to_c()
= "-0500"

See Also

• Date and Time Functions

unixtimestamp_to_time Function

Syntax

Arguments

timestamp

Numeric

Description

Converts a Unix timestamp number (seconds since 1970-1-1) to a time value

See Also

• Date and Time Functions

WEEK Function

Syntax

Arguments

Date_ValueDate

The date used to determine the calendar week of the year.

Returns

Week_NumberNumeric

Returns an integer equal to the week number (1-53) for the specified Date_Value.

Description

Get the calendar week number of a date where Sunday is the first day of the week.

Discussion

The WEEK() function returns the integer equal to the week number (1-53) for the specified Date_Value. Every week starts on Sunday. A week includes any number of days in the year. For example, if January 1 is on a Saturday, it is in week 1. January 2 (a Sunday) would be in week 2.

Example

The following example is from the Interactive Window in Alpha Anywhere.

dim start as D = {1/1/2005}
? week(start)
= 1

dim date as D
date = ctod("12/27/04")
? date
= {12/27/2004}

? week(date)
= 53

See Also

• Date and Time Functions

WEEK_ISO Function

Syntax

Arguments

dateDate

The date to be analyzed.

Returns

Week_NumberNumeric

Returns the ISO week number of the year where Monday is the first day of the week. Dates at the beginning or end of a calendar year may be included in the week for the previous or next year, respectively.

Description

Get the ISO calendar week number for a date where Monday is the first day of the week.

Discussion

The WEEK_ISO() function returns the ISO 8601 week number of the year where Monday is the first day of the week. Week numbers are 1 to 52 or 53. Part of week 1 may include dates from the previous calendar year. Part of week 52 or 53 may include dates from the next calendar year.

The first week of the year is calculated as the week containing the first Thursday of the calendar year. This implies the following:

• The first week is mostly within the calendar year.
• The first week contains January 4th.
• The first week starts with the Monday nearest January 1st.

The last week of the year is the week containing the last Thursday of the calendar year. The following statements are also true of the last week of the year:

• The last week of the year is mostly within the calendar year.
• The last week contains December 28th.
• The last week ends with the Sunday nearest to December 31st.

dim start as D = {1/1/2005}
? cdow(start)
= "Saturday"

? week_iso(start)
= 53

? week_iso(start+1)
= 53

? week_iso(start+2)
= 1

? cdow(start+2)
= "Monday"

See Also

• Date and Time Functions

WEEK_ISO_FULL Function

Syntax

Arguments

dateDate

The date to be analyzed.

Returns

ISO_WeekCharacter

Returns the fully qualified ISO week in the format "YYYY-W##-d" where "YYYY" is the year, "W##" is the week number (01-53), and d is the day of the week (1-7).

Description

Get the full ISO week in the format "YYYY-W##-d" where YYYY is the year, W## is the week number, and d is the day of the week.

Discussion

The WEEK_ISO_FULL() function returns the full ISO week format "YYYY-W##-d". This format indicates the year, ISO week number, and day of week for a specified date. For example, consider the date June 11, 2012:

dim date as d = {7/11/2012}

ISO_WEEK_FULL() returns the following string for this date:

? week_iso_full(date)
= "2012-W28-3"

From this string, we can determine the following information about June 11, 2012:

• June 11, 2012 belongs to a week in the year 2012.
• June 11, 2012 falls in week 28 of the calendar year.
• June 11, 2012 is the third day of the week.

If a date falls at the end or beginning of a year, it may be contained in the week of the adjacent year. WEEK_ISO_FULL() can be used to determine if the week for a date at the beginning or end of the year belongs to a different calendar year:

' January 3, 1999 is the last day in week 53 for the 1998 calendar year:
? week_iso_full({1/3/1999})
= "1998-W53-7"

? week_iso_full({1/4/1999})
= "1999-W01-1" 

' December 29, 2003 is the first day in week 1 for the 2004 calendar year:
? week_iso_full({12/29/2003})
= "2004-W01-1"

? week_iso_full({12/28/2003})
= "2003-W52-7"

See Also

• Date and Time Functions

WIN_TIME Function

Syntax

Arguments

P

A pointer variable containing information about the time settings of a computer.

computer

Optional. Default = "." (local computer). The name of the computer to analyze.

Description

The WIN_TIME() function returns information about the Windows time settings of a computer.

Discussion

Example

? win_time() 
 = Day = 23 
 DayOfWeek = 4 
 Hour = 17 
 Milliseconds = 
 Minute = 18 
 Month = 6 
 Quarter = 2 
 Second = 23 
 WeekInMonth = 4 
 Year = 2005

Limitations

Legacy: This function does not work with Windows 98 and Windows ME.

See Also

• System Functions
• Date and Time Functions

WMI_DATE_TO_TIME Function

Syntax

Arguments

Local_Date_Time

Local date and time.

Formatted_CIM_Date_Time

Formatted CIM Date time string.

Local_Time_Zone

Local time zone.

Description

Legacy. Converts a CIM Date Time string

Discussion

The WMI_DATE_TO_TIME() function converts a CIM Date Time string as used by WMI to an Alpha Anywhere Time value in the local time zone. This is a replacement for WMI's SWbemDateTime object because that object is only available on Windows XP and Windows 2003. The WMI CIM format is yyyymmddHHMMSS.mmmmmmsUUU.

Example

? wmi_datetime_to_time("20040616180931.990000-240", a5_os_info().CurrentTimeZone)
= 06/16/2004 06:09:31 00 pm

See Also

• Date and Time Functions

wmi_datetime_to_time Function

Syntax

Arguments

wmitime

Character

gmt_offset

Numeric

Description

Converts a CIM Datetime string as used by WMI to an Alpha Anywhere time value in the local timezone

See Also

• Date and Time Functions

YEAR Function

Syntax

Arguments

date

A variable containing a date value or a character string containing a legitimate representation of a date value ( ISDATE (Date_Value) = .T.).

Date_Time

A variable containing a date-time value (type T).

Returns

YearNumeric

Returns the full year for the specified date.

Description

Returns a four digit integer equal to the year portion of the specified Date or Date_Time value.

Discussion

Example

If START contains 05/25/1995.

? year(START)
= 1995
? year(date() )
= 2006
? year(now() )
= 2006

Two Digit Years

If the date specifies the year using two digits, the YEAR() function will assume the date to be in the 20th century if it is on or after '00' to an upper bound defined in the Settings for Alpha Anywhere.

For example:

? year({10/20/30})
= 1930

? year({01/02/03})
= 2003

You can change the upper bound for two digit years assumed to be 21st century years in the Alpha Anywhere Development Environment settings. Under the View menu, select Settings. Open the Date settings and change the upper bound for two digit years assumed to be 21st century years.

You can optionally require all years to be 4 digit years in dates by checking Require all years to be fully specified.

See Also

• Date and Time Functions

YearStart_ISO Function

Syntax

Arguments

First_Week

The first day of the ISO year for a given year. Numeric

WhichYear

The date to be analyzed. Numeric

Description

The YearStart_ISO() function returns the first day of the ISO year.

Discussion

Example

? yearstart_iso(2005) 
 = {01/03/2005} 

  ? yearstart_iso(2004) 
 = {12/29/2003}

put description here

See Also

• Date and Time Functions