Conditional Format Using A Time Figure As The Trigger

[Minitman]

Greeting,

I have a spreadsheet where I need to high light rows which have a time
value of 0:00 in column B. Column B has many time figures and a few
empty cells. I am interested only in those cells with the value of
"0:00" (12:00 o'clock midnight)

How do I detect this time value in column B and what would a CF
formula look like to do this?

Any help will be greatly appreciated, thanks.

-Minitman

 

[sameoldcalvin]

try using =0 in the Conditional formatting

 

[Teethless mama]

=AND($B1=0,$B1<>"")

 

[Minitman]

Thanks for the quick and helpful replies.

12:00 o'clock being equal to "0" is what I was missing.

And thank you Teethless mama for the code, it works great.

-Minitman

 

[Minitman]

I spoke to soon!!

The code works if there is something in B (which is what it is
supposed to do). However, if there is nothing in B, then it fires as
well (which it is NOT supposed to do).

Any ideas as to how to fix this bug?

Any help is appreciated/

-Minitman

 

[David Biddulph]

Firstly check that you've got TM's formula correctly, and make sure that
you've used CF's "Formula Is", not "Cell Value Is".

Secondly, are you sure that B1 is really empty when you say it is? What
does =LEN(B1) say? Perhaps you've got one or more spaces in the cell?

 

[Minitman]

Hey David,

Thanks for the reply.

In response to your questions:

1st - I copied and pasted it into the CF. I had to make a couple of
adjustments (first row is 2 not 1) other wise just as it was written.
And I used the formula is in the CF.

2nd - I tried putting a space into B2 and that untriggered the CF. I
then plugged in your =LEN(B2) and it returned 0 if there was nothing
in B2 and the CF was triggered. I put in the number 0 into B2 and the
CF stayed triggered. I then removed the 0 from B2 and put in a space
like you mentioned. That got a response, the CF untriggered back to
default (no color if there is anything other then a zero).

So why is the CF Triggering on both 0 and ""??? I thought that B2<>""
would exclude the empty condition. I guess not.

It seems that the only work around is to NOT let that row be empty (if
empty, put a space character into the offending cell so it will not be
empty).

-Minitman

 

[John]

Hi Minitman
Just for you to know Midnight is 12.00 am not pm so maybe this is what
is giving you problems.Check it out
HTH
John

 

[David Biddulph]

What you are saying doesn't make sense.

You say:
"I tried putting a space into B2 and that untriggered the CF. I then
plugged in your =LEN(B2) and it returned 0 if there was nothing in B2 and
the CF was triggered"
Where did you put the =LEN(B2)? How could it return 0 if you had a space in
B2, and how could putting =LEN(B2) in another cell affect the CF which is
dependent only on the content of B2?

To go back to your original question, which I think was saying that you
think the CF is being triggered when you believe B2 is empty:
Firstly, please copy the formula from your CF Formula Is condition and paste
it here into your newsgroup reply. Don't try to retype. While you are at
it, please check that you've only got the once condition set.
Secondly, what does =LEN(B2) [in another cell] return when you think B2 is
empty and when you think that the CF has been triggered?

I can assure you that the CF formula suggested *does* work.
With =AND($B2=0,$B2<>"") as the condition, it will trigger when B2 contains
zero, but not when the cell is empty, or contains a space or anything non
zero, or when it has a formula returning an empty string "".

 

[Minitman]

Hey David,

My apologizes for not being clear. I plugged =LEN(B2) into C2 as a
tester cell.

The CF formula in each cell of row 2 is:

=AND($B2=0, $B2<>"""")

When this formula triggers, it turns each cell blue. Column B is
formatted in the 24 hour time format. A 0 in B2 is converted to 12:00
o'clock midnight Which is what I need). An empty cell ("") at B2
should NOT also trigger the CF, but it does. As for the space
character, it will act like any other character and NOT trigger the
CF.

What I don't under stand is, with the AND operator, don't both
conditions have to be true before the CF triggers?

It seems like the CF is treating zero (0) and empty ("") as the same
character???

How is this possible?

-Minitman

 

[David Biddulph]

Ah, well that explains it.
You are using
=AND($B2=0, $B2<>"""")
when you were told to use
=AND($B2=0, $B2<>"")
There was sure to be a simple answer.
--
David Biddulph

Hey David,

My apologizes for not being clear. I plugged =LEN(B2) into C2 as a
tester cell.

The CF formula in each cell of row 2 is:

=AND($B2=0, $B2<>"""")

When this formula triggers, it turns each cell blue. Column B is
formatted in the 24 hour time format. A 0 in B2 is converted to 12:00
o'clock midnight Which is what I need). An empty cell ("") at B2
should NOT also trigger the CF, but it does. As for the space
character, it will act like any other character and NOT trigger the
CF.

What I don't under stand is, with the AND operator, don't both
conditions have to be true before the CF triggers?

It seems like the CF is treating zero (0) and empty ("") as the same
character???

How is this possible?

-Minitman

What you are saying doesn't make sense.

You say:
"I tried putting a space into B2 and that untriggered the CF. I then
plugged in your =LEN(B2) and it returned 0 if there was nothing in B2 and
the CF was triggered"
Where did you put the =LEN(B2)? How could it return 0 if you had a space
in
B2, and how could putting =LEN(B2) in another cell affect the CF which is
dependent only on the content of B2?

To go back to your original question, which I think was saying that you
think the CF is being triggered when you believe B2 is empty:
Firstly, please copy the formula from your CF Formula Is condition and
paste
it here into your newsgroup reply. Don't try to retype. While you are at
it, please check that you've only got the once condition set.
Secondly, what does =LEN(B2) [in another cell] return when you think B2 is
empty and when you think that the CF has been triggered?

I can assure you that the CF formula suggested *does* work.
With =AND($B2=0,$B2<>"") as the condition, it will trigger when B2
contains
zero, but not when the cell is empty, or contains a space or anything non
zero, or when it has a formula returning an empty string "".