Inserting Date/Time stamps

[Sue Compelling]

My need is to create a date/stamp each time a user exits the notes field of a
form (the assumption being that they have entered additional info). I will
then use this date/time stamp to prioritise those records that have had new
info added.

Have tried "insert date/stamp" and also =(now) commands though neither of
these methods are right.

TIA

 

[Brendan Reynolds]

Me.Notes = Me.Notes & " - " & Now() & vbCrLf

The AfterUpdate event of the text box would probably be a better choice than
the Exit event.

 

[Sue Compelling]

Thanks Brendan - this was brilliant - though I now need help with the next
step. (I'll explain the business need to give you the full picture)

Area Coordinators get sent lists of their Volunteers (Breast Cancer Street
Appeal) every 3 days leading up to the event. Some of the lists are quite
long so they want to see at the TOP of the list, those people that have had
new info added. I was intending doing a sort on date order of a separate
field that gets timestamped, though of course your recommendation buries the
time stamp within the body of the notes. eg - this is a sample of a notes
field

Sarah Cunningham's mum who wants to help too - 10/10/2006
Has broken her foot so will not be able to stand - 12/10/2006
Hasn't been contacted, please ring asap - 17/10/2006

So - how would I be able to identify that this person had notes entered
AFTER 13/10/2006 and then ensure that they are the first on the list?

Thanks for any help you can give

 

[Brendan Reynolds]

It was not at all my intention to *recommend* that the time stamp should be
buried within the body of the notes. I provided an example that did that
because I thought that was what you were asking for. I agree that a separate
field would be better. I would go further, and recommend that your example
data below not only should not be stored in one field, it should not be
stored in one record. Your example should be three records, not one.

 

[Douglas J. Steele]

If the new text is in a separate text box (let's call it txtNewText), you
could put something like the following in the AfterUpdate event of the text
box:

Private Sub txtNewText_AfterUpdate()

Me.Notes = Me.txtNewText & " - " & Now() & vbCrLf & Me.Notes

End Sub

 

[Sue Compelling]

Hi Douglas - thanks so much as always for your help.

Yes - this was a better option than the first as it allows the user to amend
notes (as opposed to adding notes) without generating a time stamp each time.
BUT - I still have the same problem whereby I need to strip out the date
part ONLY of the latest notes and store it in another field (let's call it
textNewTextDate) so I can sort by it. Thoughts? I'm thinking I do a similar
'afterupdate' command to that text box as well though only using the Now ()

ps - I agree with Brendan's comment regarding separate records and I
initially had the notes field as a sub form though the Users requested this
set up so they could use the Ctl F in the Notes for 'conversation' records
that they'd transcribed.

 

[Sue Compelling]

Hi Doug

I played around and worked it out - thanks muchly. Sue.