Conditional Formatting

[Mike]

Hello,

I have a form on which I'm trying to format the dates so
they change colors when they approach todays date. Some of
the dates work fine while others don't. It's completely
random as to what works and what doesn't. The field for
the day is set as TEXT, not DATE, because I have some
areas that don't have dates and need to put text there. Is
that what is hosing up my formatting? Is there an EASY
workaround?

Thanks for your assistance,

 

[John Vinson]

Hello,

I have a form on which I'm trying to format the dates so
they change colors when they approach todays date. Some of
the dates work fine while others don't. It's completely
random as to what works and what doesn't. The field for
the day is set as TEXT, not DATE, because I have some
areas that don't have dates and need to put text there. Is
that what is hosing up my formatting? Is there an EASY
workaround?

Well, TEXT fields are not dates, don't sort as dates, and aren't
recognized as dates so yes, this very likely will cause problems.

If you have "some areas that don't have dates" I'd strongly suggest
you look at your table design. Each Table field should contain one and
only one kind of information, one "attribute" of that table's entity.
If you have a field which sometimes contains dates and sometimes
contains something else, you should reconsider the structure of your
table!

Bear in mind too - your design should start with the tables, NOT with
the form. A form doesn't contain any data, it's just a tool for
displaying data. If you get your tables right the forms will be much
easier to work with!