This section describes the date and time formats Entire Operation uses for processing system function and producing output reports. These formats are independent of the format options Windows provides in an Entire Operations GUI environment.
The current date and time appears in the top line of nearly every system screen.
The date displayed on the screen is represented in the Entire Operations default format specified in the Date Format field of the Default Setting (1) (see the Administration documentation).
If you enter a date or specify a data as a parameter, the syntax must conform to the format set in the Entire Operations defaults. Otherwise, you receive an appropriate error message indicating that the date or time does not match the required format.
This document covers the following topics:
Possible date representations and valid input values for date fields are described in the following section.
Input fields for dates have different lengths and you may have to (or can optionally) shorten the input string. Entire Operations always treats shortened input (or output fields) with the century.
A shortened input string is always extended to a complete date (even when not representable on the screen), according to the default format set for your environment. This is indicated in the following examples that assume the current date is December 30, 2016.
| Date Pattern | Date Format Setting | Examples |
|---|---|---|
DD.MM.YY |
G
German format. |
30.12.16 |
| 301216 | ||
| 30.12 | ||
| 3012 | ||
DD/MM/YY |
E
European format. |
30/12/16 |
| 301216 | ||
MM/DD/YY |
A
American format. |
12/30/16 |
| 123016 | ||
YY-MM-DD |
I
International format (default). |
16-12-30 |
| 161230 | ||
| 1612 | ||
YYYYMMDD |
8
Eight-digit format. |
20161230 |
| 2016 |
DD is a two-digit day, MM a two-digit
month, YY a two-digit year and YYYY a four-digit
year.
A two-digit year is internally always processed with four digits.
Input of a year value is optional. If you omit the year, the current year is used.
If Entire Operations interprets an input string as a past date (relative to the current date), an appropriate message occurs.
The century that relates to a 2-digit year value is determined by using a sliding window that assumes the date to be within a range of +50/-50 years, relative to the current year. For example:
If the current year is 2016, the sliding window will cover the years 1966 to 2065. A 2-digit year value nn from 66 to 99 is interpreted accordingly as 19nn, while a 2-digit year value nn from 00 to 65 is interpreted as 20nn.
Input of the separator characters slash (/), period
(.) and dash (-) is optional. If you omit the
separators, the input string is extended to a complete date.
The time is represented in one of the following formats:
| Syntax | Example | Complete Time |
|---|---|---|
HH:II:SS
|
145231 |
14:52:31 |
1452 |
14:52:00 | |
14:53 |
14:53:00 | |
14 |
14:00:00 |
HH is a two-digit hour, II a two-digit
minute and SS a two-digit second.
The hour range is 0 to 23. The minute
and second range is 0 to 59.
Input of minutes and seconds is optional. If you omit the minutes and/or seconds, the input string is extended to a complete time.
Input of the separator character colon (:) is
optional. If you omit the separators, the input string is extended to a
complete time.