Editing a Date field

A date field is one that accepts entries in the form of a date.

Entry:

To enter a value into a date field start on the left and enter the digits appropriate to the position of the cursor. The slash separators will be entered automatically. Since the format of a date field is not fixed to one format, the method of entry is defined by the selected format. See below for a description of date formats and how to change them.

To enter a value in the default date format of MM/DD/YYYY (example 12/31/2004) first make sure that the field is active and the month part is selected. Now enter the digits of the month value. Press the right arrow key to move to the day value. Enter the digits of the day value. Press the right arrow key to move to the year value. Enter the four digits of the year value. Use the left arrow key to move back to the day or month value. After the entry is complete use the Tab key to move to the next field.

Note that the up arrow key can be used to increment the month, day, or year part of the date field. Likewise the down arrow key can be used to decrement the value. This is an alternative to entering the month, day, or year, value directly.

A date can also be selected from a popup calendar. To show the popup calendar, press the drop-down button on the right of the field. Move to the month and year of your target date using the buttons along the top (see below). To select a day of the month use either the arrow keys or click on the day. Clicking on a day will close the calendar and change the value of the date field to the date selected in the calendar. Pressing the Enter key will also close the calendar and change the value of the date field to the date selected in the calendar. Pressing the Escape key will close the calendar without changing the value of the date field.

Use the < button to move one month back and the > button to move one month forward.

Use the << button to move one year back and the >> button to move one year forward.

Use the arrow keys to select a day of the month.

To empty a date value just press the Delete key when it is active and then leave the field.

To restore the original value use Undo command on the Edit menu, or by pressing the Ctrl+Z key combination. This undo will revert back to the original value. Use undo again to restore the new value.

If this field is calculated then you will not be able to edit it directly. A calculated field has a different color than an entry field. When active a calculated field is gray and does not accept entries, while an editable field is white and does accept entries. For more information on editing calculated fields click here.

Note: If more text is entered than will fit in the field it may run off into other fields.

Navigation:

To move to the next field on this page press either the Tab or the Enter key. For more on navigating the fields of a page click here.

Available operations:

If the Drill Down button is enabled for this field then pressing this button will take you to the field from which the active field’s value is calculated. For more information on the drill down operation click here.

If the Drill Up button is enabled for this field then pressing this button will take you to the summary field where this field’s value is carried. For more information on the drill up operation click here.

It is rare that a date field will have field worksheets available to define its value. But if the Add Field Worksheet button is enabled then this field has worksheets that can be attached to build its value. And if field worksheets are available for the active field, they will also be shown in the Attachments List part of the Table of Contents pane.

If a worksheet is already attached for this field then pressing the Add Field Worksheet button will inform you of this and will ask if you want to open that worksheet, and pressing the Drill Down button will take you directly to this worksheet.

Grid row operations:

If this field is in a grid row, then the row operation buttons will be enabled on the Field Actions toolbar shown along the right of the screen. These buttons provide quick access to all grid row operations such as:

For more information on working with grids click here.

Field Formatting:

There are many formats with which a date can be displayed. Some examples are 12/31/03, 12/31/2003, 31/12/2003, Dec/31/2003. The standard date format for all date fields can be changed on the Options menu. Each date field can also have a specific date format defined for it. This is done using the field’s context menu accessed via the Show Field Menu button.

A date field also has all of the appearance options of a single-line-text field. You can specify its font and underline or bold it. You can change the horizontal and vertical alignment of the text within the field, and more. For more information click here.

Other:

This topic is shown when the More button is pressed on the Brief Help pane. It is also shown when a field on the page is clicked with the Help Cursor.

If the Brief Help pane is not showing then you should open and review its text for two reasons. 1) There may be custom instructions for this field that are shown only in the Brief Help pane. 2) The Brief Help pane will show text that describes the state of the active field, while the help system can not detect a field’s state.

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