Re: Excel data transfer add-in DATE fields

Hi Jim,

I tend to agree.  However, when a formatted date is downloaded to Excel as a
character value, it remains a character value only until touched by a user;
then it is converted to a date if Excel recognizes it as such.  So in that
situation you wouldn't know you had an invalid date until you touched the
cell it was in.  This way you at least know you've got invalid data.  It
would be nicer if it had a better way of reporting the error(s) than
terminating the download.

It's interesting -- when you enter a date manually into Excel, it has no
problem identifying 05/23/02, 05/23/2002 or 2002-05-23 as dates.  It also
has no trouble with 05/23/1920, and it doesn't complain about 05/23/20
(although it converts it to 05/23/2020).  It does not like 23.05.2002.

But when using the CAExpress Excel add-in, it apparently has to be told
which format the date is in.  Obviously the add-in is not using the same
routine as the manual entry does.

Too bad SQL doesn't have something for errors like the COALESCE function for
nulls.  Then at least the download would complete.  Either that or an error
message that makes it to the client with enough information for the user to
find the problem.

Peter Dow
Dow Software Services, Inc.
909 793-9050 voice
909 793-4480 fax
909 522-3214 cell

From: "Jim Franz"
> <imho>If you can't trust  the source to give you a valid date 100% of the
> time,
> (and 07/26/1920 really is a valid date) then I would not put the process
> at risk by trying to update directly to a date data type field.