Converting String to Date

[chrisppppp]

Crystal Xi

Hi. I've got a list of dates that are stored as strings and would like to convert them all to a date. I was thinking about using:

cdate({@Policy Docs Sent})

However, when i flick through my report i get this error:

Bad date, format string

What does this mean? Is this because say there is a day 30 in the month of Feb? How can i get round this or is there anything else i can do?

 

[IanWaterman]

YOU can filter out duff dates

If IsDate(datestring) Then
CDate(datestring)
Else
CDate(0,0,0)

Ian

 

[chrisppppp]

You are an absolute legend, cheers mate, and thanks for the quick response

 

[CrystalizeCanada]

Hi,

If your dates look like this '22/07/1971' (it has /s) then Date('22/7/1971') should work to convert it to a date.
If your dates look like this '22071971' without the / then Date ('22071971') won't work in which case we can use a formula to put the / back into the date.

See example below:
//assuming a date called {OrderDate} that looks like this'22071971'
StringVar DateFixed:= {OrderDate} [1 to 2]& '/'& {OrderDate} [3 to 4] &"/"& OrderDate [5 to 8];
date({DateFixed})

If this isn't the problem can you email a couple of examples of what your string dates look like

Tx

Gordon BOCP
Crystalize