Date/Time Stamp from imported data in DDF Builder

[bigdcs01]

I building some DDFs in DDF builder (by the way thanks Mirtheil), and whenever I start configuring the Date/Time field it does not appear correctly. I have Tried each of the Btrieve Types available but they are all way off on the Date.

I am trying to get them into the correct format so that I can put them into a Crystal Report. Any ideas?

 

[mirtheil]

It's possible your "date" fields aren't real dates, at least not in terms of Btrieve/SQL. What does "way off" mean when you select the various types? What happens if you change it to a CHAR type?

Mirtheil
Certified Pervasive Developer
Certified Pervasive Technician

http://www.mirtheil.com

 

[bigdcs01]

Using the TimeStamp option it shows: 12/06/7367 00:39:59
Date shows: 10/27/5905

The real date\time that is stored in the BTR is 5/27/01 12:23

CHAR shows (upside down ?)I

Is there a conversion that can be done to put it in the right time?

 

[mirtheil]

Is this an application you developed or is it a third party application? If it's third party, what does the vendor say is the format? If it's something you developed, what's the data type used in the application?

Mirtheil
Certified Pervasive Developer
Certified Pervasive Technician

http://www.mirtheil.com

 

[bigdcs01]

Third Party. Mediware LifeLine is the name of the application. The DEF files that are associated with the files show that the Type is Date.

 

[JimKyle]

What shows up if you look at the field as an 8-byte integer? At least one commercial application that I often do data recovery for uses this data type for dates, storing today's date as 20060813 instead of using Btrieve's own date type.

It's also possible that the field may be stored as a double-precision floating-point number, with the integral portion being the number of days since December 31, 1899, and the fraction being the portion of 24 hours that have elapsed since midnight. This is the standard date-time representation in Microsoft programs such as Access and Excel.

 

[bigdcs01]

Using the Integer Btrieve type I get: 18879

JimKyle, some of the guys I work with were thinking the same thing. But for some reason the number 18879 doesn't give us much to work with.

 

[grnelson]

There are also a couple of Magic date types as well. My software BtSearch shows 7 date types when building DDF files for existing files. One thing about when custom date types are used is you will not be able to use ODBC to access it unless you build in some addtional logic to convert the date.

Gil

 

[bigdcs01]

How do I access these "Magic" Date types? Is it only available through BtSearch? How much does it cost?

 

[grnelson]

For additional info on BtSearch you can visit

http://www.nssdd.com

and download the trial version. The thing that makes Btrieve very nice is you can store any information in the file. The one thing that can be a pain is you can store any information in a file. A developer can use one of the standard Btrieve data types or they can use one that they perhaps worked with in the past. BtSearch has many of these other types built in. It will then export the data out to dbase or ascii formats.

Gil