|
IO formats, or masks, allow you to specify how
strings should be entered in the interface. The characters that you
can use in such masks are specified in the following tables.
Alphanumeric IO Format Characters
|
Character
|
Purpose
|
|
X
|
Indicates an alphanumeric character,
excluding "/\^ ~ @ & | -( ) [ ] { } * ? = + . , ; : '
|
|
A
|
Indicates a letter (A-Z, a-z)
|
|
9
|
Indicates a digit. The number of digits entered by the end-user
must actually match the number of 9s in the mask. For example, if
the mask is "999", the end-user must type in three digits.
|
|
(n)
|
Indicates that the preceding character is repeated N times. For
example, a zip code mask with five digits can be written as
9(5).
|
Numeric IO Format Characters
|
Character
|
Purpose
|
|
.
|
Indicates a decimal point. The number of 9s after the decimal
point indicates the precision. See the note below.
|
|
,
|
Indicates a comma used as numeric separator (e.g. in amounts of
money). See the note below.
|
|
/
|
Indicates a slash.
|
|
9
|
Indicates a digit.
|
|
B
|
Indicates a blank.
|
|
Z
|
Indicates that leading zeroes must not be displayed on the
positions of digits. For example, ZZZZ9.99 displays 1.25
instead of 00001.25 (the leading zeroes are replaced by
blanks).
|
|
$ or £
|
Used instead of leading 9s they indicate where the currency sign
is to be displayed. First, the 9s and currency signs are used to
determine the positions of the digits to be displayed. Then, the
rightmost unused $ or £ character determines the position of the
currency sign. For example, $$$$999 displays a value of 2222 as
$2222
|
|
+ or -
|
Used instead of leading 9s they indicate where the plus or minus
sign is to be displayed. First, the 9s and plus or minus signs are
used to determine the positions of the digits to be displayed.
Then, the rightmost unused + or character determines the position
of the plus or minus sign. For example, ++++999 displays a value of
2222 as +2222
If you use minus signs, the minus is not displayed when the
value is positive.
|
NOTE:
The comma and period that are used to indicate thousands and
decimals will be replaced in the display by the values set in the
Control Panel.
Values from the Control Panel
are read once at the time of the first conversion. If you wish to
use new Control Panel settings (after making any changes), you must
restart the Definer or the Windows Designer afterwards.
Note that the values set in
the control panel can be overruled, if required, using the
following resources:
*decGroupSeparator:
<value>
the symbol used to separate groups of three digits (thousands,
millions, etc.)
*decFracSeparator:
<value>
the decimal separation character.
For example:
*decFracSeparator: ,
*decGroupSeparator: .
results in
1.234.567,01
These resources can be set in
the USDI resource file, for example, or on the command line.
using
-xrm "<resouce
name>:<value>".
USoft Developer assumes that
your RDBMS returns a period as a decimal separator. If this is not
the case, make sure that the actual separator is made known to
USoft Developer by setting the following resource:
*dbDecFracSeparator : value
Date IO Format Characters
|
Character
|
Purpose
|
|
CC, or SCC
|
Current Century ("S" prefixes a BC date with "-")
|
|
YYYY, or SYYYY
|
Year ("S" prefixes a BC date with "-")
|
|
YYY, YY, or Y
|
Last 3, 2, or 1 digit(s) of the year
|
|
CCYY
|
This element does almost the same as YYYY. The difference is
that when CCYY is used and only part of the year is given as input
the rest of the date is defaulted to the last millennium, century
or decade.
For example; when using the
CCYY IO-Format, in 1999, the input 99 will result in: 1999. When
using the YYYY IO-format the result would have been: 0099
Note that this differs from
the Oracle-meaning of CC (Current Century). In Oracle, the
statement:
SELECT TO_CHAR(sysdate,'CC') FROM DUAL
will, in 1999, result in:
20
The CCYY element cannot be
used in combination with one of the following format elements: BC,
AD, B.C., A.D., AM, PM, A.M., P.M., SSSSS FM, TH, SP
(These format elements are
supported on Oracle only).
|
|
RR (Oracle only)
|
In Oracle 7.2 + versions there is a new date format for years.
When you specify a date format of DD-MON-RR, (RR replaces YY), upon
entering data, Oracle will store the value as either 19YY or 20YY
depending on the value entered.
If the last two digits of
system date are between 0-49 and the specified year you enter is
between 0-49, the returned value stored in the database is for the
current century. If the specified date is from 50-99, then the
return date is the century before the current one.
If the last two digits of the
system date are from 50-99 and the specified two-digit year is
between 0-49, then the return date is the century after the current
one, and if the specified date is between 50-99, the return date is
for the current century.
|
|
Q
|
Quarter of the year (possible values: 1-4; January- March is
1)
|
|
MM
|
Month (possible values: 01-12; January is 01)
|
|
MONTH
|
Name of the month (padded with blanks to a length of nine
characters)
|
|
MON
|
3-letter abbreviation of month
|
|
WW
|
Week of year (possible values: 1-53; the week numbering method
depends upon the standard used by the underlying RDBMS. In the case
of the commonly used ISO or ANSI standards, week 1 is the first
week which includes at least four days in the new year)
|
|
W
|
Week of month (possible values: 1-5; week 1 includes the first
day of the month)
|
|
DDD
|
Day of year (possible values: 1-366)
|
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DD
|
Day of month (possible values: 1-31)
|
|
D
|
Day of week (possible values: 1-7, where 1 is Monday, 7 is
Sunday)
|
|
DAY
|
Name of day (padded with blanks to a length of nine
characters)
|
|
DY
|
3-letter abbreviation of day
|
|
J
|
Julian day (number of days since January 1, 4712 BC)
|
|
AM, or PM
|
Meridian indicator
|
|
HH, or HH12
|
Hour of day (possible values: 1-12)
|
|
HH24
|
Hour of day (possible values: 0-23)
|
|
MI
|
Minute (possible values: 0-59)
|
|
SS
|
Second (possible values: 0-59)
|
|
/ . , .
|
Specified punctuation is included in the result (see NOTE 1)
|
|
"..."
|
String to be included in the result
|
|
$$SHORTDATE$$
|
See NOTE 2
|
|
$$LONGDATE$$
|
See NOTE 2
|
NOTE 1:
When using a date input format such as DD-MON-YYYY on Oracle,
input with different punctuation than specified is also accepted,
e.g. "01.JAN.1999" or "01/JAN/1999".
NOTE 2:
For DATE fields, instead of specifying a fixed IO format on
domain (or Windows Designer) level, you can make the representation
format conform to the specification in your operating system
environment. This environment usually contains both a short and a
long date format.
You can choose between them by
specifying $$SHORTDATE$$ or $$LONGDATE$$ as domain IO format.
If you use this IO format, it
is also advisable to use the ConvertAlternativeFormat method, or
specify an Alternative Input Format, to enable users to enter dates
in formats other than the one used for representation. Especially
if you use $$LONGDATE$$, which usually includes a spelled week
day.
You can adapt the DATE formats
in the system environment via the Control Panel/Regional
Settings.
Other IO Format Characters
|
Character
|
Purpose
|
|
XML
|
Indicates that XML documents must be received or returned.
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Related Topics
Alternative Input Formats
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