Date formatting question

[jsteph]

Hi all,
I'm aware that there is a Convert() function, which can be used for dates and takes an argument, ie, 101, 108, etc for specific formats of dates. My question is--Is there an easy way to custom format a date?

I'm thinking something similar to the vb Format() function, which can accept a custom string format argument.

For example, say today is 5/15/2008, I want to display just the format YYYYMM, ie, 200805.

How can I do that without a complex string-parsing function combined with some cast or convert function (keeping in mind the example format could be anything--I may also want 2008_05, or May 2008 or whatever).
Thanks,
--Jim

 

[SQLDenis]

Nothing out of the box, I would say do it in the presentation tier if possible

Denis The SQL Menace
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[gmmastros]

VB has nice formatting functions because that is where you should be formatting your dates. Think of it this way.... nobody actually see's the data in your database. The see the presentation of it in whatever front end application you are using.

-George

"The great things about standards is that there are so many to choose from." - Fortune Cookie Wisdom

 

[jsteph]

Thanks all,
Yes, I do have front-end formatting available, and I understand the idea of the presentation layer.

However, my issue is that I'm preparing some views for which I want a certain amount of portability. The same view will be used for a Crystal report, an MS Access report, Excel, and HTML created within ASP. I'll be delivering raw data to the different users for any of these front ends and I want to minimize the customization.

I will look into building a custom function, it sounds like the way to go in this instance.
Thanks,
--Jim