Best way to have user input date on a form 1

[dmuroff]

Good day,

I am in the process of designing a database which will be used for a few user who are somewhat new to computers.

I am wondering what the best way to design the tables and forms for a user to input a date.

Should I have seperate fields for Day,Month,Year in the table? or have 1 field? I will eventually have to get the date into the standard form (10/21/2004) since I will be doing calculations on it.

Can I have 3 fields and then concatenate them into 1?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

 

[hymn]

If you are going to use the date for something else then keep it as you require it
People will soom get used to inputting the date as YOU require it

Hope this helps
Hymn

 

[dmuroff]

ok..
but lets say i have 3 combo boxes..is there a way to concatenate them into a single 'date' field?
Thanks.

 

[hymn]

Yes
Cbo name plus which column the data is in ie. (0) dont forget the number starts at 0 & cboname.column(0) & cboname.column(1)

Hope this helps
Hymn

 

[Edski]

dmuroff,
My advice would be to have just the one field in the table and get the user to enter the date as a date, and not 3 separate fields representing the day, month and year. Why on earth would you want to design a form to accept dates any other way? The computer will not only check that the date entered is a valid date (leap years, valid day value (depending on the month), months between 0 and 12, valid years etc...), it will also be much easier to implement validation checks. You won't have to combine the 3 fields later when you want to do any calculations on it, less programming, data entry will be quicker, etc etc... I could go on and on.

But that's just my humble advice. You don't have to agree with me if you don't want to.

Do you have a reason why 3 fields would be better?
Edski

 

[dmuroff]

Edski...
It's just the fact that inputting "12/23/2004" is not as simple to see on a form. "December" "23" "2004" is more visible. Just me I guess.

I found a post here that has a link to a sample db where someone created a form (much like the calender control ActiveX) with a calender.

If I can find it again I will post the link.

Thanks for the advice.

Dan

 

[Edski]

I still think entering 6 numbers as a date (with an input mask and auto tab set) is quicker than reaching for the mouse, finding the correct date on the calendar and then clicking it, then going back to the keyboard to continue data entry. Just my personal opinion again.
Cheers.

 

[PaulF]

Go here, and see if this will help

http://www.glump.net/content/accessdatepicker/

PaulF