Managing Dates in the Year 2000 (Part II)

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In this issue:

DATES AND DATABASES
• Both Microsoft and Uniplex have some date surprises
• Uniplex Y2K issues with dates
• Access not fully compliant on international dates

  WEB DESIGN: DINGBATS AND ICONS

• How to use font dingbats for web icons

  INTERNET FIGURES

• Just how popular is the Internet compared to TV?

  JUST FOR FUN:

• Bumper stickers from the Internet

UNIPLEX DATABASE: YEAR 2000 ISSUES WITH DATES

 

Be warned, although the Uniplex V9 database is Y2K compliant there is a little nasty "feature" lurking.

If you enter a date as "01/01/00" you would expect it be entered as a year 2000 date right? Wrong! Although 2000 dates are formatted to "00" and even searches and selections will work with "00" your dates really need to be entered using the full four digits. "01/01/2000". So, you either need to start fixing up your forms and putting in background date fix routines to avoid this.

MICROSOFT ACCESS: MAJOR DATE ISSUES FOR INTERNATIONAL USERS

 

This little "feature" is a major problem for any international user, and is not readily visible, traceable and testable.

Basically, although Access handles your regional date format fine in forms, reports etc, it does not handle it correctly in SQL statements. In SQL statements the date format is strictly US format.

So, to find records dated May 10, 1996 in a United Kingdom database, you must use the following SQL statement:

SELECT * FROM Orders WHERE ShippedDate = #5/10/96#; Note: Day and Month are reversed!!!

You can also use the DateValue function which is aware of the international settings established by Microsoft Windows. For example,

SELECT * FROM Orders WHERE ShippedDate = DateValue('10/5/96');

In this case, you can use the date the "correct" way round for the UK.

This little "feature" causes so much grief. Your form calls a date from a field in the users regional format, then uses that date to get data through SQL and you get no information (or harder to spot) the wrong information.

Very nasty, and well worth watching out for.

WEB GRAPHICS WORK: ENTERING DINGBATS

 

Long term readers of these articles will recall that I have recommended using Dingbat characters in web designs for easy ways of making simple icons.

For example, some simple processing on a phone dingbat gives you a great phone icon for your web site.

Now, the usual way of entering the dingbats is you fire up your text entry dialog and keep trying until you get the right character, but here are two easier ways:

Run Character Map (usually Accessories, System Tools). This lets you view all the characters in a font. Just select the ones you want and click Copy. Then in your graphics program paste them in.

Or, if you know what the keystrokes are (and character map tells you on the bottom right hand side you can enter these directly).

For example, Times New Roman has a ® (Registered Trade Mark) symbol. It's shortcut is Alt+0174.

To enter this symbol, press and hold down the Alt key, then ON THE NUMERIC KEYPAD ONLY, type 0174, then release the Alt key. The symbol will appear as though typed.

Incidentally, that trick works in any Windows program, not just graphics programs.

SOME INTERNET FACTS AND FIGURES

 

It took Radio 30 years to have 50,000,000 radios in people's homes.

It took TV 15 years to have 50,000,000 TV's in peoples homes.

It took the Internet 3 years to have 50,000,000 people connected to the web.

"There are between 50 million and 100 million regular internet users currently!"

"There are more than 20 million webpages in existence"

"There are seven new people on the Internet every second."

"Every fourth person on the Internet is buying something right now."

"The internet has had more users in its first 5 years, than telephone did in its first thirty."

"This month another 18 million people will go online."

"Email already outnumbers regular mail by 10 to one."  

SEEN ON THE INTERNET - GREAT BUMPER STICKERS

 

Honk if you've never seen an Uzi fired from a car window

I didn't fight my way to the top of the food chain to be a vegetarian.

Heart Attacks...God's Revenge For Eating His Animal Friends

If at first you don't succeed, skydiving is not for you

If you lived in your car, you'd be home by now

And this is my favourite, seen on the back of a biker's vest:

If you can read this, my wife fell off.

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