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Accomodating non-valid dates in a date/time field



 
 
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  #1  
Old December 4th, 2008, 07:26 PM posted to microsoft.public.access.tablesdbdesign
RanaeB
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Posts: 5
Default Accomodating non-valid dates in a date/time field

Is there anyway to accomodate missing dates in a date field? For example, I
want to enter 99/99/99 in a date field to signal that this date was not
provided on the paper form, when entering this data into the database form.
But, if a field is set up as a date/time field, 99/99/99 is not a valid date.
So, it's rejected.

I'm using 9 because the rest of my fields are coded and set up to use 9 to
indicate missing data and we'd like this coding to be consistent. I don't
want to leave the field blank if the date is missing because we want to make
sure that there is an specific explanation for missing data, i.e. it wasn't
that the handwriting was unreadable ("7") or that the individual doing data
entry just forgot to enter it.

Any suggestions?
Thanks.
  #2  
Old December 4th, 2008, 07:51 PM posted to microsoft.public.access.tablesdbdesign
Roger Carlson
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Posts: 824
Default Accomodating non-valid dates in a date/time field

The only way to do that is to store it as text, not a date, but that will
mean all sorts of conversion routines whenever you want to do something with
it. Personally, I'd leave it NULL.


--
--Roger Carlson
MS Access MVP
Access Database Samples: www.rogersaccesslibrary.com
Want answers to your Access questions in your Email?
Free subscription:
http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/scripts/...UBED1=ACCESS-L



"RanaeB" wrote in message
...
Is there anyway to accomodate missing dates in a date field? For example,
I
want to enter 99/99/99 in a date field to signal that this date was not
provided on the paper form, when entering this data into the database
form.
But, if a field is set up as a date/time field, 99/99/99 is not a valid
date.
So, it's rejected.

I'm using 9 because the rest of my fields are coded and set up to use 9 to
indicate missing data and we'd like this coding to be consistent. I don't
want to leave the field blank if the date is missing because we want to
make
sure that there is an specific explanation for missing data, i.e. it
wasn't
that the handwriting was unreadable ("7") or that the individual doing
data
entry just forgot to enter it.

Any suggestions?
Thanks.



  #3  
Old December 4th, 2008, 09:50 PM posted to microsoft.public.access.tablesdbdesign
Duane Hookom
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 7,177
Default Accomodating non-valid dates in a date/time field

And possibly add a yes/no field that stores -1 if the date is missing. You
can then display whatever you want in forms and reports based on the yes/no
field.
--
Duane Hookom
Microsoft Access MVP


"Roger Carlson" wrote:

The only way to do that is to store it as text, not a date, but that will
mean all sorts of conversion routines whenever you want to do something with
it. Personally, I'd leave it NULL.


--
--Roger Carlson
MS Access MVP
Access Database Samples: www.rogersaccesslibrary.com
Want answers to your Access questions in your Email?
Free subscription:
http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/scripts/...UBED1=ACCESS-L



"RanaeB" wrote in message
...
Is there anyway to accomodate missing dates in a date field? For example,
I
want to enter 99/99/99 in a date field to signal that this date was not
provided on the paper form, when entering this data into the database
form.
But, if a field is set up as a date/time field, 99/99/99 is not a valid
date.
So, it's rejected.

I'm using 9 because the rest of my fields are coded and set up to use 9 to
indicate missing data and we'd like this coding to be consistent. I don't
want to leave the field blank if the date is missing because we want to
make
sure that there is an specific explanation for missing data, i.e. it
wasn't
that the handwriting was unreadable ("7") or that the individual doing
data
entry just forgot to enter it.

Any suggestions?
Thanks.




 




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