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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
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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
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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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