If this is your first visit, be sure to check out the FAQ by clicking the link above. You may have to register before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages, select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below. |
|
|
Thread Tools | Display Modes |
#1
|
|||
|
|||
Calculating Dates
After a lot of searching of this forum, the knowledge base, and the help
files, I can't help but wonder Why can't Word handle dates? Why can't I ask a user for different date information and do calculations on the input? |
#2
|
|||
|
|||
Calculating Dates
The short answer is that you can do this - if
http://www.wopr.com/cgi-bin/w3t/show...?Number=249902 doesn't give you any ideas, tell us what you are trying to do. -- Graham Mayor - Word MVP My web site www.gmayor.com Word MVP web site http://word.mvps.org Karin wrote: After a lot of searching of this forum, the knowledge base, and the help files, I can't help but wonder Why can't Word handle dates? Why can't I ask a user for different date information and do calculations on the input? |
#3
|
|||
|
|||
Calculating Dates
You would really have to ask Microsoft that question (the regular responders
in here are not MS employees). The probable reason is that Microsoft sees no good commercial reason to improve things in this area when demand for other facilities has (presumably) been much stronger. There is no technical reason why Word could not handle date entry and date calculations a lot better than it does. Of course, there are non-trivial problems such as the impossibility of telling what format a date is in - e.g. is 5/6/2007 6th May (cf. in the US) or 5th June (cf. in the UK), and the difficulty of dealing with multilingual date entry, but those problems can be dealt with in one way or another. Peter Jamieson "Karin" wrote in message ... After a lot of searching of this forum, the knowledge base, and the help files, I can't help but wonder Why can't Word handle dates? Why can't I ask a user for different date information and do calculations on the input? |
#4
|
|||
|
|||
Calculating Dates
It can with a little bit of VBA using the DateAdd(), DateDiff() functions
for example. Or if you are a field masochist/afficionado like fellow MVP Macropod, you can do it as shown at: http://www.wopr.com/cgi-bin/w3t/show...?Number=249902 -- Hope this helps. Please reply to the newsgroup unless you wish to avail yourself of my services on a paid consulting basis. Doug Robbins - Word MVP "Karin" wrote in message ... After a lot of searching of this forum, the knowledge base, and the help files, I can't help but wonder Why can't Word handle dates? Why can't I ask a user for different date information and do calculations on the input? |
#5
|
|||
|
|||
Calculating Dates
Graham,
I have two ask fields (LetterDate and YearEndDate). I want to change text based on the dates: If LetterDate is = YearEndDate "ending" "ended" I can have the information entered in the ask fields in any format, but it needs to be displayed as mmmm dd, yyyy (January 16, 2007) in the letter. I'm not much of a programmer, but it doesn't seem like this should be so difficult. "Graham Mayor" wrote: The short answer is that you can do this - if http://www.wopr.com/cgi-bin/w3t/show...?Number=249902 doesn't give you any ideas, tell us what you are trying to do. -- Graham Mayor - Word MVP My web site www.gmayor.com Word MVP web site http://word.mvps.org Karin wrote: After a lot of searching of this forum, the knowledge base, and the help files, I can't help but wonder Why can't Word handle dates? Why can't I ask a user for different date information and do calculations on the input? |
#6
|
|||
|
|||
Calculating Dates
This was my reply to your message in another group - a good example IMO of
why it's not a good idea to post the same question separately to different groups (in short: why do you imagine that your time is more valuable than ours?): The comparisons are text comparisons rather than date comparisons. To do a date comparison you need the dates in YYYYMMDD format, so e.g. { IF { REF LetterDate \@YYYYMMDD } = { REF YearEndDate \@YYYYMMDD } "ending" "ended" } is more likely to do the trick. But of course it will only work if Word recognises the texts as dates and converts them correctly. Peter Jamieson "Karin" wrote in message ... Graham, I have two ask fields (LetterDate and YearEndDate). I want to change text based on the dates: If LetterDate is = YearEndDate "ending" "ended" I can have the information entered in the ask fields in any format, but it needs to be displayed as mmmm dd, yyyy (January 16, 2007) in the letter. I'm not much of a programmer, but it doesn't seem like this should be so difficult. "Graham Mayor" wrote: The short answer is that you can do this - if http://www.wopr.com/cgi-bin/w3t/show...?Number=249902 doesn't give you any ideas, tell us what you are trying to do. -- Graham Mayor - Word MVP My web site www.gmayor.com Word MVP web site http://word.mvps.org Karin wrote: After a lot of searching of this forum, the knowledge base, and the help files, I can't help but wonder Why can't Word handle dates? Why can't I ask a user for different date information and do calculations on the input? |
#7
|
|||
|
|||
Calculating Dates
Peter,
I didn't start out asking the same question. The original question is why can't word handle dates? I replied to Graham's question of what I wanted to do. I still want to know why Word doesn't have a date field that can be filled in by a user and calculated. I'm clearly not the only one on this forum wanting to manipulate date information. Don't assign words or thoughts to me that aren't there. I don't imagine you're more important than me! "Peter Jamieson" wrote: This was my reply to your message in another group - a good example IMO of why it's not a good idea to post the same question separately to different groups (in short: why do you imagine that your time is more valuable than ours?): The comparisons are text comparisons rather than date comparisons. To do a date comparison you need the dates in YYYYMMDD format, so e.g. { IF { REF LetterDate \@YYYYMMDD } = { REF YearEndDate \@YYYYMMDD } "ending" "ended" } is more likely to do the trick. But of course it will only work if Word recognises the texts as dates and converts them correctly. Peter Jamieson "Karin" wrote in message ... Graham, I have two ask fields (LetterDate and YearEndDate). I want to change text based on the dates: If LetterDate is = YearEndDate "ending" "ended" I can have the information entered in the ask fields in any format, but it needs to be displayed as mmmm dd, yyyy (January 16, 2007) in the letter. I'm not much of a programmer, but it doesn't seem like this should be so difficult. "Graham Mayor" wrote: The short answer is that you can do this - if http://www.wopr.com/cgi-bin/w3t/show...?Number=249902 doesn't give you any ideas, tell us what you are trying to do. -- Graham Mayor - Word MVP My web site www.gmayor.com Word MVP web site http://word.mvps.org Karin wrote: After a lot of searching of this forum, the knowledge base, and the help files, I can't help but wonder Why can't Word handle dates? Why can't I ask a user for different date information and do calculations on the input? |
#8
|
|||
|
|||
Calculating Dates
Word is a word processor. If you want to do calculations use a spreadsheet.
-- Hope this helps. Please reply to the newsgroup unless you wish to avail yourself of my services on a paid consulting basis. Doug Robbins - Word MVP "Karin" wrote in message ... Peter, I didn't start out asking the same question. The original question is why can't word handle dates? I replied to Graham's question of what I wanted to do. I still want to know why Word doesn't have a date field that can be filled in by a user and calculated. I'm clearly not the only one on this forum wanting to manipulate date information. Don't assign words or thoughts to me that aren't there. I don't imagine you're more important than me! "Peter Jamieson" wrote: This was my reply to your message in another group - a good example IMO of why it's not a good idea to post the same question separately to different groups (in short: why do you imagine that your time is more valuable than ours?): The comparisons are text comparisons rather than date comparisons. To do a date comparison you need the dates in YYYYMMDD format, so e.g. { IF { REF LetterDate \@YYYYMMDD } = { REF YearEndDate \@YYYYMMDD } "ending" "ended" } is more likely to do the trick. But of course it will only work if Word recognises the texts as dates and converts them correctly. Peter Jamieson "Karin" wrote in message ... Graham, I have two ask fields (LetterDate and YearEndDate). I want to change text based on the dates: If LetterDate is = YearEndDate "ending" "ended" I can have the information entered in the ask fields in any format, but it needs to be displayed as mmmm dd, yyyy (January 16, 2007) in the letter. I'm not much of a programmer, but it doesn't seem like this should be so difficult. "Graham Mayor" wrote: The short answer is that you can do this - if http://www.wopr.com/cgi-bin/w3t/show...?Number=249902 doesn't give you any ideas, tell us what you are trying to do. -- Graham Mayor - Word MVP My web site www.gmayor.com Word MVP web site http://word.mvps.org Karin wrote: After a lot of searching of this forum, the knowledge base, and the help files, I can't help but wonder Why can't Word handle dates? Why can't I ask a user for different date information and do calculations on the input? |
#9
|
|||
|
|||
Calculating Dates
Not helpful Doug. It's a simple If statement based on two dates in a form
letter. It is in no way a spreadsheet operation. "Doug Robbins - Word MVP" wrote: Word is a word processor. If you want to do calculations use a spreadsheet. -- Hope this helps. Please reply to the newsgroup unless you wish to avail yourself of my services on a paid consulting basis. Doug Robbins - Word MVP "Karin" wrote in message ... Peter, I didn't start out asking the same question. The original question is why can't word handle dates? I replied to Graham's question of what I wanted to do. I still want to know why Word doesn't have a date field that can be filled in by a user and calculated. I'm clearly not the only one on this forum wanting to manipulate date information. Don't assign words or thoughts to me that aren't there. I don't imagine you're more important than me! "Peter Jamieson" wrote: This was my reply to your message in another group - a good example IMO of why it's not a good idea to post the same question separately to different groups (in short: why do you imagine that your time is more valuable than ours?): The comparisons are text comparisons rather than date comparisons. To do a date comparison you need the dates in YYYYMMDD format, so e.g. { IF { REF LetterDate \@YYYYMMDD } = { REF YearEndDate \@YYYYMMDD } "ending" "ended" } is more likely to do the trick. But of course it will only work if Word recognises the texts as dates and converts them correctly. Peter Jamieson "Karin" wrote in message ... Graham, I have two ask fields (LetterDate and YearEndDate). I want to change text based on the dates: If LetterDate is = YearEndDate "ending" "ended" I can have the information entered in the ask fields in any format, but it needs to be displayed as mmmm dd, yyyy (January 16, 2007) in the letter. I'm not much of a programmer, but it doesn't seem like this should be so difficult. "Graham Mayor" wrote: The short answer is that you can do this - if http://www.wopr.com/cgi-bin/w3t/show...?Number=249902 doesn't give you any ideas, tell us what you are trying to do. -- Graham Mayor - Word MVP My web site www.gmayor.com Word MVP web site http://word.mvps.org Karin wrote: After a lot of searching of this forum, the knowledge base, and the help files, I can't help but wonder Why can't Word handle dates? Why can't I ask a user for different date information and do calculations on the input? |
#10
|
|||
|
|||
Calculating Dates
I don't imagine
you're more important than me! Glad to hear it, and apologies if I misunderstood. However, the reality is still as I said before - there is no technical reason why Word couldn't do it, but Microsoft has chosen not to provide thsoe facilities in the "field language," and only they know for sure why. Any of us can certainly speculate, and I would do so for fun, but since it doesn't actually result in any useful change it seems a bit of a waste of time :-) Peter Jamieson "Karin" wrote in message ... Peter, I didn't start out asking the same question. The original question is why can't word handle dates? I replied to Graham's question of what I wanted to do. I still want to know why Word doesn't have a date field that can be filled in by a user and calculated. I'm clearly not the only one on this forum wanting to manipulate date information. Don't assign words or thoughts to me that aren't there. I don't imagine you're more important than me! "Peter Jamieson" wrote: This was my reply to your message in another group - a good example IMO of why it's not a good idea to post the same question separately to different groups (in short: why do you imagine that your time is more valuable than ours?): The comparisons are text comparisons rather than date comparisons. To do a date comparison you need the dates in YYYYMMDD format, so e.g. { IF { REF LetterDate \@YYYYMMDD } = { REF YearEndDate \@YYYYMMDD } "ending" "ended" } is more likely to do the trick. But of course it will only work if Word recognises the texts as dates and converts them correctly. Peter Jamieson "Karin" wrote in message ... Graham, I have two ask fields (LetterDate and YearEndDate). I want to change text based on the dates: If LetterDate is = YearEndDate "ending" "ended" I can have the information entered in the ask fields in any format, but it needs to be displayed as mmmm dd, yyyy (January 16, 2007) in the letter. I'm not much of a programmer, but it doesn't seem like this should be so difficult. "Graham Mayor" wrote: The short answer is that you can do this - if http://www.wopr.com/cgi-bin/w3t/show...?Number=249902 doesn't give you any ideas, tell us what you are trying to do. -- Graham Mayor - Word MVP My web site www.gmayor.com Word MVP web site http://word.mvps.org Karin wrote: After a lot of searching of this forum, the knowledge base, and the help files, I can't help but wonder Why can't Word handle dates? Why can't I ask a user for different date information and do calculations on the input? |
Thread Tools | |
Display Modes | |
|
|