Problem with date

[CAsba]

Hi again,
My euphoria in solving the last date problem was shortlived. I discovered by chance that the convert to seconds command was intermittently failing to work. I isolated the problem in a substack, consisting of two fields, field, and field2, and a button. The button code is

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convert fld "field" to seconds
convert fld "field2" to seconds

In fld "field" I typed 24/3/25 and in fld "field2" I typed 3/3/25.
Only fld "field2" converted.
Please try this and tell me if this failure is universal or, as usual, down to something I am doing wrong.

[Klaus]

I can reproduce this! No idea if this is a bug or a freature.

In the meantime use a variable and write it back after conversion:

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...
put fld "field" into tSecs1
convert tSecs1 to seconds
put tSecs1 into fld "field"
## Same for fld "field2"
...

Best

Klaus

[dunbarx]

CAsba, Klaus.

The "dates" in the two fields are of different formats. Of course they cannot be conceptually mixed in the simplistic way CAsba tried.


Craig

[Klaus]

Ah, yes, my fault!

@CAsba
When using "convert" you need to supply a VALID format.
If you don't specify a format, LC thinks you are using a ENGLISH date (mm/dd/yy)
and 24/3/25 is NOT, so it won't get converted.

I thought you already got a hint about SYSTEMDATE in another thread?


Best

Klaus

[CAsba]

Thinking about this, it occurred to me that maybe, to convert, the date to be converted should be in the american format. I'll try playing with that.

[CAsba]

Hi Klaus,
I didn't get your input until after I sent mine !
Two ships in the night..

[richmond62]

ENGLISH date (mm/dd/yy)

That is an American date, and not an English one.

AND if you ask for the date:

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put the date

you will get whatever is the format of the end-user's computer.

If you do this:

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put the dateFormat

you will be able to use that to work out what format the end-user is using.

For instance, my system uses the European date format and returns:

%#d.%m.%y

Then you'll have to play various funny games depending on whether:

1. The month has 28,29,30, or 31 days.

2. Whether the preceding year had 365 or 366 days in it.
-

[Klaus]

And how does an ENGLISH date look like?

[richmond62]

There is some confusion as today, in the English format is:

20/08/2025

while the American format is:

08/20/2025

But for some ODD reason:
-

-
inwith LiveCode 'english' specifies the American date format.

viewtopic.php?t=21655

in a perfect world (?) one could do this sort of thing (pseudocode):

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set the dateFormat to "ukrainian"

Note: The english keyword is implemented internally as a property and appears in the propertyNames. However, it cannot be used as a property in an expression, nor with the set command.

[Klaus]

AHA!
Thank you for the explanation, so I got it wrong the last 69 years!

[CAsba]

Hi Klaus,
I don't think I picked up a hint about systemdate in a previous thread..
I'm now trying to find how to change 24/3/25 into a systemdate (?) other than writing some complex script to move the dateitems of it to new positions.

[CAsba]

Klaus,
I forgot to say, the code you sent me didn't do it.

[Klaus]

Klaus,
I forgot to say, the code you sent me didn't do it.

Yes, because we used an invalid (non english) date -> 24/3/25

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...
convert fld "field" FROM SYSTEM DATE to seconds
convert fld "field2" FROM SYSTEM DATE to seconds
...

Will work as long as there ARE in fact system dates in the fields.
What country are you living in?

And how did the date get into the field? Did your user enter it or are you using a script?
If the latter please show the script.

[richmond62]

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on mouseUp
   put "1/1/08 3:06 AM" into theTime
   convert theTime to seconds
   put theTime
end mouseUp

[richmond62]

Here's a fairly silly stack that will convert your system date to what LiveCode erroneously calls the 'English' date:
-