can a date accept only a year

[sparks]

We are entering mm/dd/yyyy but some of the date fields only contain
years. Can a date be made to only take a year entry if that is all
that they have?
can it be made to take only 2008 or maybe even 00/00/2008

[Chris O'C via AccessMonster.com]

A date field requires a date data type and a valid one at that. Neither 2008
or 00/00/2008 are acceptable. If the year is good enough for your records (a
365 day range) surely any month and day is as good as another. Pick one.

Chris
Microsoft MVP
sparks wrote:

>We are entering mm/dd/yyyy but some of the date fields only contain
years. Can a date be made to only take a year entry if that is all
that they have?
can it be made to take only 2008 or maybe even 00/00/2008

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[sparks]

On Mon, 15 Sep 2008 12:44:52 GMT, "Chris O'C via AccessMonster.c om"
<u29189@uwewrot e:

>A date field requires a date data type and a valid one at that. Neither 2008
or 00/00/2008 are acceptable. If the year is good enough for your records (a
365 day range) surely any month and day is as good as another. Pick one.

Chris
Microsoft MVP
sparks wrote:

>>We are entering mm/dd/yyyy but some of the date fields only contain
years. Can a date be made to only take a year entry if that is all
that they have?
can it be made to take only 2008 or maybe even 00/00/2008

I told them to put in 01/01/YYYY for data with only a year.
So that sould work out ok. They agreed and are doing it that way from
now on.

They ask a date but just like everything else. No one can remember a
certain date but they remember the year and sometimes the month.
I suggested a day month and year fields. 3 fields to store the date.
This would mean 19 fields becomes 57. and so on. More error on entry
as well.

[Chris O'C via AccessMonster.com]

Don't make it more error prone. Keep them as a date fields.

Chris
Microsoft MVP
sparks wrote:

>I suggested a day month and year fields. 3 fields to store the date.
This would mean 19 fields becomes 57. and so on. More error on entry
as well.

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[paii, Ron]

Why not use a unbound text field in your form, set the input mask to
0000;;_.
Use the after update event to append "1/1" to the entered year and update
the field.

"Chris O'C via AccessMonster.c om" <u29189@uwewrot e in message
news:8a3be40740 bb2@uwe...

Don't make it more error prone. Keep them as a date fields.

Chris
Microsoft MVP
sparks wrote:

I suggested a day month and year fields. 3 fields to store the date.
This would mean 19 fields becomes 57. and so on. More error on entry
as well.

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[Chris O'C via AccessMonster.com]

Most of the time it's a full date that needs to be entered, your input mask
would prevent that. Two text boxes would be needed, one for date and one for
year if that's all the user has available, with added code and more
opportunities for confusion and errors. Better to keep it simple.

Chris
Microsoft MVP
paii, Ron wrote:

>Why not use a unbound text field in your form, set the input mask to
0000;;_.
Use the after update event to append "1/1" to the entered year and update
the field.

>Don't make it more error prone. Keep them as a date fields.

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[paii, Ron]

The OP states that some fields take mm/dd/yyyy and others need only the
year. I don't think you would want to mix input formats in the same field.

"Chris O'C via AccessMonster.c om" <u29189@uwewrot e in message
news:8a3e063e40 ad1@uwe...

Most of the time it's a full date that needs to be entered, your input

mask

would prevent that. Two text boxes would be needed, one for date and one

for

year if that's all the user has available, with added code and more
opportunities for confusion and errors. Better to keep it simple.

Chris
Microsoft MVP
paii, Ron wrote:

Why not use a unbound text field in your form, set the input mask to
0000;;_.
Use the after update event to append "1/1" to the entered year and update
the field.

Don't make it more error prone. Keep them as a date fields.

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[Chris O'C via AccessMonster.com]

Sparks has 19 date fields and suggested breaking that up into 3 number fields
to accommodate the occasional data input where only the year is available.

Keep all 19 fields as date data types, keep it simple. Adding Jan. 1st when
only the year is known is a good default because it's a holiday when most
aren't working. So it's a visual cue that only the year is right.

Chris
Microsoft MVP
paii, Ron wrote:

>The OP states that some fields take mm/dd/yyyy and others need only the
year. I don't think you would want to mix input formats in the same field.

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[paii, Ron]

I agree with you to not break a date into 3 number fields. But why force the
users to enter a default day and month on the fields requiring only year?
The form can easily accept year input, append the default day and month,
then store it in a date field.

"Chris O'C via AccessMonster.c om" <u29189@uwewrot e in message
news:8a3e3ddac3 9f2@uwe...

Sparks has 19 date fields and suggested breaking that up into 3 number

fields

to accommodate the occasional data input where only the year is available.

Keep all 19 fields as date data types, keep it simple. Adding Jan. 1st

when

only the year is known is a good default because it's a holiday when most
aren't working. So it's a visual cue that only the year is right.

Chris
Microsoft MVP
paii, Ron wrote:

The OP states that some fields take mm/dd/yyyy and others need only the
year. I don't think you would want to mix input formats in the same

field.

>
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[Chris O'C via AccessMonster.com]

There *aren't* any fields requiring only the year. Sometimes the users know
only the year when they're inputting data so they'd like to put it there but
it's a date field so won't accept only the year. Hence Sparks' question.

With your scenario there's 2 solutions:

1 - The date text box can be bound to the table but when only the year is
known, it can't be input into the same text box, meaning another text box on
the form. That additional text box would be unbound and need code to make it
work right.

2 - Use one unbound text box with the code to work with the input value
whether it's a full date or a year. Having unbound text boxes on a bound
form can produce problems when trying to save to record, especially if the
unbound text box is meant to transfer input to a required column.

Either way that's more code, more complexity, and more chances for errors and
frustration for the user.

Keep it simple. A bound date field.

Chris
Microsoft MVP
paii, Ron wrote:

>I agree with you to not break a date into 3 number fields. But why force the
users to enter a default day and month on the fields requiring only year?
The form can easily accept year input, append the default day and month,
then store it in a date field.

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