Re: How to use date mask 'dd-MON-rr'?

In article <6p52tn$i2n$1_at_pascal.a2000.nl>,   "Arjan van Bentem" <avbentem_at_DONT-YOU-DARE-cable.a2000.nl> wrote:
>
> >And which one is better to beat the year 2K problem?
>
> DD-MON-RRRR, while at the same time force your users to enter four digits
> for the year. When using YY, entering 98 will be interpreted as 1998 today,
> but as 2089 as of January 1st, 2000. And when using DD-MON-YYYY you will get
> the year 0098 if your users enter 98 instead of 1998! This is perfectly
> sensible, as entering 1 for the day is also interpreted as 01. This is nust
> the very same for years... So use RRRR, or at least RR.

I have to disagree with this, unless you are sure your users will never be confused about what's going on. One of the most common dates used in databases today is Date_of_Birth. With users still in the habit of entering only 2 digits for the year, using RRRR for a date format is an invitation to have a large number of people born in the years 2000 to 2049. Users will type a date like 04-01-45 for a date of birth, meaning April fool's day 1945, and never realize they entered April 1st, 2045 instead. Of course, you can write a bunch of edits to try to validate the date, but what's the point?

Until users truly understand what's going on, I believe the only sure way to avoid Y2K problems is to force them to enter the exact year they mean. I've done this on the last few systems I've worked on, and the users, though initially surprised, understood and agreed once I explained it to them.

Bob M.

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