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reference:scripting_reference:scripting_objects:date

The Date object is provided to make it easier to deal with variables representing dates. It converts automatically to an ActiveX VT_DATE value and so can function as a drop-in replacement for a scripting language's native date variables. The main advantage is that it retains milliseconds, unlike VT_DATE which has a one second resolution. It also provides some utility methods to manipulate dates. The Item object has a number of properties that returns Date objects.

You can create a new Date object using the DOpusFactory.Date method.

Property Name Return Type Description

<default value>

date

Returns a VT_DATE representing the value of this Date object (excluding the milliseconds).

day

int

Get or set the day value of the date.

hour

int

Get or set the hour value of the date.

min 

int

Get or set the minute value of the date.

month

int

Get or set the month value of the date.

ms

int

Get or set the milliseconds value of the date.

sec

int

Get or set the seconds value of the date.

wday 

int

Get the day-of-the-week value of the date. 0 = Sunday, 1 = Monday, 2 = Tuesday, etc.

year

int

Get or set the year value of the date.

Method Name Arguments Return Type Description

Add

<int:value>
<string:type>

none

Adds the specified value to the date. The interpretation of the specified value is controlled by the type string:

lmilliseconds
sseconds
mminutes
hhours
ddays
wweeks
Mmonths
yyears

Clone

none

object:Date

Returns a new Date object set to the same date as this one.

Compare

<date:other>
[<string:type>]
[<int:tolerance>]

int

Compares this date against the other date. The return value will be 0 (equal), 1 (greater) or -1 (less).

The optional type string controls how the comparison is performed:

signore seconds. If specified, the optional tolerance argument specifies the comparison tolerance in seconds.
sDignore seconds, and compensate automatically for daylight savings.
tcompare times only
dcompare dates only

Format

[<string:format>]
[<string:flags>]

string

Returns a formatted date or time string. The format and flags arguments are both optional.

If you do not give a format, the result will include both date and time, formatted the same as date-time columns in the file display.

If you give a format of just "d" or "t" then the result will be just the date or time part, formatted the same as date or time columns in the file display.

The file display's formats depend on the user's locale and Windows settings. You should use those options if you wish to present a date/time to the user in the way they expect them to look, but not if you need to store them in a specific format.

When using the file display's format (that is, the format argument is empty, "d" or "t"), you can optionally pass one or more case-sensitive flags in the second flags argument to override a few settings:

NForce day names on in dates within the last week. "Today", "Monday", etc.
nForce day names off.
SForce seconds on in times.
sForce seconds off.
MForce milliseconds on in times. (Milliseconds will be zero if the stored time does not have millisecond accuracy.)
mForce milliseconds off.
PForce time hours to be padded to two digits.
pDo not force time hours to be padded.

For example, to get just the date, using the user's locale, but with day names forced off:

myDate.Format("d","n")

To get the date and time, using the user's locale, but with day names forced on and seconds forced off:

myDate.Format("","Ns")

The format can also use the syntax shown in Codes for date and time, allowing for arbitrary formats. For example,

myDate.Format("D#yyyy-MM-dd T#HH:mm:ss")

This would return a string like 2023-07-28 15:45:26.

When explicitly specifying a format, the flags argument should not be used and will be ignored.

FromUTC

none

object:Date

Returns a new Date object with the date converted from UTC (based on the local time zone).

Reset

none

none

Resets the date to the current local date/time.

Set

<date:newdate>

none

Sets the value of this Date object to the supplied date. newdate can be:

  • Another Date object
  • A string in the form "yyyymmdd"
  • A string in the form "yyyy-mm-dd hh:mm:ss.mmm" (or part thereof)
  • A JScript Date object
  • A unix epoch time value (seconds since 1/1/1970).
  • The string "now" (sets to the current time)

Sub

<int:value>
<string:type>

none

Subtracts the specified value from the date. The parameters are the same as for the Add method.

ToUTC

none

object:Date

Returns a new Date object with the date converted to UTC (based on the local time zone).