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moa
03-21-2007, 03:16 AM
Hello,
I've received an email from a tester in Central Europe telling me that the dates aren't formatted correctly in the app I am working on (in a text box on a form as well as in cell formats). They are formatted in English as dd-mmm-yy, but would obviously be different in Czech. Didn't even think of this. So far everything else seems to work okay.

My question is: is there a way to fix this without changing the formats for each non-English workbook going to each country (about 6)? Would like to have one version, not seven based on language.

Also: Are there any other issues I should be aware of? I am aware number format differences.

Charlize
03-21-2007, 03:31 AM
I believe that when you use variables declared as date, you use the standard notation of the computer that's using the workbook. I use dd/mm/yyyy. Or you could gather the notation of the different country's and use a function to determine the format of the date ? When the tester has selected the standard country (with a checkmark or so) you write the info to sheet or documentvariable. When opening the workbook, you could check on this and use that notation (or let them choose between different dateformats - dd/mm/yy - mm/dd/yy - ...).

Charlize

Bob Phillips
03-21-2007, 03:34 AM
The formats in cells should be correct, local date settings should take care of that.

What do you want to do in text boxes, automatically format it to the local settings? If so you could try writing it to a cell I suppose and pick upthat format, but personally I use an unambiguous format, say dd mmm yyyy.

moa
03-21-2007, 03:44 AM
In the cells I am using custom format (with dashes and two digit year) to get the date format I need (Manager was pretty specific about it).

I just had a look at the screen shot I was given and the month is coming out in roman numerals!

TonyJollans
03-21-2007, 03:44 AM
Text boxes on Forms can be awkward but dates in cells will show as you have formatted them. A couple of date formats respond to regional setup - most don't - so just choose one that does (they are indicated in the dialog).

I'm sure there are other issues but a couple come to mind ...

You may need to be aware of number formats; if your users use comma for decimal point they will also use a semicolon as separator.

There is an issue with functions (and also separators as above) used in conditional formatting. They are held as text, rather than as internal codes, and don't get translated for - and, therefore, are not understood by - machines set up in other languages.

TonyJollans
03-21-2007, 03:47 AM
Just posted at the same time as you and I see you are using an explicit date format to override the regionally-aware one - if that is what you have to do, tell your Czech users to talk to your manager :)

moa
03-21-2007, 03:48 AM
:rotlaugh: