How do I get my tables (and corresponding reports) to
display two-digit dates instead of four-digit dates? The
input mask I have for my date/time fields is 99/99/00;0_,
and I do NOT have the four-digit date option checked under
Options...General.
My initial reaction to this is always no to.. I sometimes feel there are so
few of us who were alive three years ago.
Still: to begin with you need to understand some basic field and control
properties.
The Input Mask's one and only job is to restrict the user's keystrokes, and
it has no effect on the data stored or how it is displayed. It does not do
validation and it does not make data entry any easier. Most developers and
nearly all users hate the thing.
The Format property is the one that affects how a field's value appears on
the screen. You can set this to any legal format string you like. Kind
developers will conform to the user's Control Panel settings -- especially
for forms that interact with individual users, and that is what the
General, Long Date, Short Date, etc settings are for. On reports, however,
it is important to avoid ambiguity regardless of the nationality and
preferences of the reader, so often the text formats are preferable such as
"dd mmmm yyyy". In your situation, you can set it to something like
dd/mm/yy or even ddmmyy if you have to save space; but I would still
recommend using wider paper or a smaller font size.
There is plenty of information in the help files under the Format property
and the Format$() function in VBA.
Hope that helps
Tim F
