UK Date Format

[Edgar Thoemmes]

Hi

I have a table which has dates entered in american date format (mm/dd/yyyy)
I tried to set an input mask to enable the user to enter UK date format
(dd/mm/yy) but it hasnt worked correctly and now most of the dates are
incorrect.

For eg: 04 Jan 04 would be displayed as 01/04/04, but 13/01/04 would be
displayed as 13/01/04 as there aren't 13 months in a year.

Could anyone suggest a way of controlling the date format so all dates input
are in UK format? I have amended the regional settings in the windows control
panel but htis hasnt worked.

NB I also have the same problem with Excel.

Also could anyone suggest a way of converting all of the dates already input
into UK format?

TIA

 

[Douglas J. Steele]

Let's take the last part of your question first. No conversion is necessary,
since dates are not stored in a particular format: they're stored as an 8
byte floating point number, where the integer part represents the date as
the number of days relative to 30 Dec, 1899, and the decimal part represents
the time as a fraction of a day. In the absence of an explicit Format being
set for the field or control, you'll see the dates in whatever the Short
Date format has been set to through Regional Settings. If this isn't what's
happening in your case, then the dates have been captured and stored
incorrectly.

For the first part, take a look at Allen Browne's "International Dates in
Access" at http://members.iinet.net.au/~allenbrowne/ser-36.html or what I
have in my September 2003 "Access Answers" column for Pinnacle Publication's
"Smart Access" newsletter. The column and accompanying database can be
downloaded at http://members.rogers.com/douglas.j.steele/SmartAccess.html