Picture masks use format strings or characters to format the input data. Format strings can be combined to format the date and time. The date strings must be prefixed with DATE. For example:
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To display the date and time as 06/01/2001 12:00 PM, you would enter DATEdd'/'MM'/'yyyy hh':'mm tt.
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To display string literals that contain date and time separators or format strings, you must enclose the substring in single quotation marks ('). To display the date as June 06 at 3:00 PM, you would enter DATEMMMM dd 'at' h:mm tt.
If the 'at' substring is not separated with single quotation marks, as shown, the result is June 06 aP 3:00PM. This is because the character t is read as the one letter AM/PM abbreviation in the input format string, as shown in the following tables.
You can construct picture masks using the format strings and characters:
Format string description
This table lists all the valid format strings:
Format string |
Description |
---|---|
Null String |
No mask. The display item acts like a standard text box. This setting is the default. |
d |
One or two digit day. |
dd |
Two-digit day. Single digit values are preceded by a zero. |
ddd |
Three-character day of the week abbreviation. |
dddd |
Full day of the week name. |
h |
One or two digit hour using the 12-hour format. |
hh |
Two-digit hour using the 12-hour format. Single digit values are preceded by a zero. |
H |
One or two digit hour using the 24-hour format. |
HH |
Two-digit hour using the 24-hour format. Single digit values are preceded by a zero. |
m |
One or two digit minute. |
mm |
Two-digit minute. Single digit values are preceded by a zero. |
M |
One or two digit month number. |
MM |
Two-digit month number. Single digit values are preceded by a zero. |
MMM |
Three-character month abbreviation. |
MMMM |
Full month name. |
s |
One or two digit seconds. |
ss |
Two digit seconds. Single digit values are preceded by a zero. |
t |
One letter AM/PM abbreviation (AM is displayed as A). |
tt |
Two letter AM/PM abbreviation (AM is displayed as AM). |
y |
One digit year (2001 is displayed as 1). |
yy |
Last two digits of the year (2001 is displayed as 01). |
yyyy |
Full year (2001 is displayed as 2001). |
Character description
This table lists all the characters that the input mask can contain:
Character |
Description |
---|---|
U |
Forces the entry to uppercase. |
# |
Digit placeholder. |
. |
Decimal placeholder. The actual character used is the one specified as the decimal placeholder in your international settings. This character is treated as a literal for masking purposes. |
, |
Thousands separator. The actual character used is the one specified as the thousands separator in your international settings. This character is treated as a literal for masking purposes. |
A |
Alphanumeric character placeholder (entry required). For example: a – z, A – Z, or 0 – 9. |
a |
Alphanumeric character placeholder (entry optional). |
9 |
Digit placeholder (entry optional). For example: 0 – 9. |
Literal |
All other symbols are displayed as literal. |