How to output DateTime field from database without SSRS formatting it? - reporting-services

I have a column in the database that looks like this:
2015-10-22 11:26:19.3157376
SSRS automatically converts it to this:
10/22/2015 11:26:29 AM
I want the report just to show how it is entered in the database without formatting it. I know I can get this by doing:
=Format(Fields!creationdt.Value, "yyyy-MM-dd hh:mm:ss.fffffff")
Is there any way to just output the raw text from the DB without using format function?
I appreciate any help on this.

Well, it's interesting to say that the field in the database "looks like this", if it is a datetime datatype, because the text you see in the results of a query is just one representation of the actual stored data. The datetime datatype is stored in a special way that you'd never see just by querying. That data then gets represented as text in a variety of ways.
One thing you can do is to cast the datetime to a string data type in your query, which will make it display exactly in SSRS. However, you run into much the same issue on the sql side of things - the convert function to take the datetime value and put it into a string value allows the user to specify what format to display the date in, which is essentially the same thing you're doing with the Format function in SSRS.

Related

MS Access Calculating date differences if Dates are Short Text

Is is possible in a Table to Calculate differences between Dates if the Value in the field is considered "short text"?
I am working to convert an Excel macro database into Access one and I have imported the data from the Excel file into an Access Table.
however i realized 2 feilds that count up until closure are now just fixed numbers but need to add up as each day passes until closure
when i imported the Dates became Short Text.
is there an expression that would handle this situation?
Each record has a serialized non repeating ID number seperate from access as well.
Dates I have are
OfficialissuanceDate,
DatePlanSubmitted,
DatePlanCompletedSubmitted,
DateClosed,
I need 2 calculations that increments daily when DateplanSubmitted and DatePlanCompletedSubmitted are null
Both comparing to OfficialIssuanceDate. then stop counting when they are no longer null. (have a date in updated to the record) and retain the value.
I have tried to Google calculating Dates but i get DateDiff function which doesnt appear to work. I've used Access and taken a class on it but never really made a new DB from scratch
Dates in a text field are not actual dates, just strings of characters. A Date/Time field stores value as a double number then displays in a date structure - "dd/mm/yyyy" is Access default structure.
Sometimes Access will do implicit conversion of data but not in this case. Either change field type to Date/Time or do conversion with CDate() function. However, you will find that conversion functions error with Null input.
Arithmetic operation with Date/Time field type is possible. However, arithmetic when any term is null returns Null so have to deal with that. One way uses Nz() function: Nz([DateClosed], Date()) - [DateOpened]. Unfortunately, Nz() is not available in table Calculated field type, so do that calc in query or textbox. Most developers avoid table Calculated field type. If you really want to use, expression would have to be: IIf(IsNull([DateClosed), Date(), [DateClosed]) - [DateOpened].

Is there a snowflake command to re-format a timestamp to ensure they are correctly displayed in a CSV export

long time viewer, first time poster.
The issue I am struggling with relates to how my timestamp data appears in excel once I've run my code in snowflake and exported it to CSV. Unfortunately at the moment I am required to double click on these timestamp cells, once in exported into excel, for the true format (how it appears in results in snowflake) to appear.
There is a manual workaround to amend once the data is in excel, however I am automating this report for a client and therefore it must be presented correctly for them prior to the export.
As it stands (see below) the timestamp begins with YYYY-MM-DD and I have been asked to flip this firstly, to begin with DD. I thought that given I need to reformat the current timestamp, I may as well set it up correctly so the timestamp perhaps comes out as text, within the csv export? (from what I have read in other forums if you convert to text it is displayed in excel exactly how it appears in snowflake).
image.png
As you can see, I continue to get the "Cant Parse" error. The example timestamp given, is row 1 of the 'QuoteDate' variable.
The second part of the issue (or really the primary part of the issue) is how the timestamp completely changes format when exported (CSV) to excel. In the screen shot below I have double clicked the first 3 rows, leaving row 4 selected in order to show you all the error - which is the formula bar displays the correct format but the cell itself does not.
image.png
I hope this all makes sense and would love any assistance on how to amend this timestamp issue to run the code correctly, and present my client with a properly formatted timestamp within their extract.
Thank you :)enter image description here
For changing format
SELECT to_char ( to_timestamp ('2019-01-02 09:36:22.507' , 'YYYY-MM-DD HH24:MI:SS.FF') , 'DD-MM-YYYY HH24:MI:SS.FF') AS TS
Timestamp/dates are stored as NUMBER in database, you need to convert in required format for correct display.
to_timestamp --> Converts an input expression into the corresponding timestamp. This expects the input to be in the format provided as second argument.
to_char --> Converts the input expression to a string format.
For preserving data format while converting from csv to excel check Saving to CSV in Excel loses regional date format

ms access data type issue when using a linked table to an excel document

I have a spreadsheet which is a report from an external supplier. The date columns are formatted completely different from how a little acccess database works, so i decided to record a macro in excel to alter the 3 columns to a dd/mm/yyyy format (im uk btw). This all works great and the column isshowing as above and is listed as a 'DATE' format also.
Now i use access to link to this excel sheet by means of a linked table, but i noticed that any queries that i wish to filter on those fields in the form of a where clause, it does not pull in the expected result IE it pulls all dates and not the ones between what i asked for in the queryalmost as if it is not recognizing them as dates see the where clause below
WHERE LatestGamma.ConfirmedPortingDate Between [Please Provide 1st Date (dd/mm/yyyy)] And [Please Provide 2nd Date (dd/mm/yyyy)];
I also tested it by using actual dates in the between cluase and it still appears to ignore it.
When i look at the properties of linked table for those columns, it shows that the fields are: dd/mm/yyyy;# but are showing as text??
When i look at the excel macro to see what code the macro used for changing the date format of the columns i see:
Columns("F:H").Select
Selection.NumberFormat = "dd/mm/yyyy;#"
I have another excel sheet that is used as a linked table and date columns are working fine and show as date/time and not Text. Its almost as if excel is putting some meta data into the columns that is making access interprate them as text (even though they are formatted as date)
Im stuck her some help/advise would be great
Its hard to tell without looking at the file, but it seems the main culprit is the excel macro which is not converting the string to date format correctly. You can try converting string into date format by using something like this in excel VBA
Sub convert()
Dim str1 As String
str1 = Range("f6").Value
startdate = CDate(str1)
End Sub
You probably will have to loop thru all the cells to convert the string (text) into date format.
Sorted it in the end. It was more or less what i was thinking IE the column although was showing as a Date type seemed to be storing it as some sort of text. Anyway the way round it was to use the text to columns button and force it to be a date in DMY format.
Once i had tried it i then recorded the actions as a macro and copied the resulting code to my main macro at the end, bingo ! Access now sees it as a date and not text.
Not sure if it is a bug or not but Excel can be a real pain sometimes especially with phone numbers, having to store them as a data type text to keep the leading zero and then immediately converting them to General to allow vlookups etc. I guess that is the same sort of thinkg going on above showing as a date yet actually having like a suedo text meta thing going on...

SSRS-Reports formatting

I am having a few issues using SSRS-Reports 2005.
The first one is I am trying to use the datediff function to change the background color of a cell based on the two dates being within 30 days of each other.
=iif(
DateDiff("d",DateString,Fields!Insurance_Certificate.Value)<= 30, "Tan", "White"
)
I have my fields formatted through the initial query so they look like mm/dd/yyyy. I guess my first question is how do I see what value is being evaluated because whatever this is returning can't be right.
my [...] question is how do I see what value is being evaluated
There is no real "debugger" available like you would have in -say- a WinForms C# app. Instead, you have several "raw" "debugging" options:
Render Fields!Insureance_Certificate.Value in a seperate cell, as text
Render DateDiff("d",DateString,Fields!Insurance_Certificate.Value) in a seperate cell, as text
Right-click your dataset, select "Query...", and execute the query manually. Inspect the values for your field. Make sure they're what you'd expect.
Render your DateString in a seperate cell, with and without a cast to a date.
Other than that #MarkBannister has a great suggestion, using actual Dates as opposed to strings for your fields and variables. One additional thing to note about this, is that date parsing may be culture-specific. Be sure you understand and know in what culture your DateString is being parsed. The above "debugging" options may help you find out.
I suggest querying your date fields as dates (instead of as strings), comparing them using the DateDiff function as in the question and formatting the date output using the Format property of the appropriate textboxes in SSRS.

How can I sort by date in ms access 2007?

Just want to know how do I sort a text column that shows data in date format mm/dd/yyyy.
You will first have to convert to a date to get a proper sort. This is a query that converts Datetext to RealDate, and then sorts on that column (field). You can also click the header to choose the sort order.
SELECT
t.ID,
t.Datetext,
DateSerial(Mid([Datetext],InStrRev([Datetext],"/")+1),
Mid([Datetext],1,InStr([Datetext],"/")-1),
Mid([Datetext],InStr([Datetext],"/")+1,
(InStrRev(Datetext,"/")-InStr([Datetext],"/"))-1)) AS RealDate
FROM Table t
Order By 3
You can use IIf to avoid errors from null:
IIf([Datetext] Is Null,Null,DateSerial(
Mid([Datetext],InStrRev([Datetext],"/")+1),
Mid([Datetext],1,InStr([Datetext],"/")-1),
Mid([Datetext],InStr([Datetext],"/")+1,
(InStrRev(Datetext,"/")-InStr([Datetext],"/"))-1))) AS RealDate
In a comment you said this is a "text column displaying date from a sql table". I'm unsure what you meant by that, but I think the situation could be simpler if you can convert the text column to an actual Date/Time column.
If you're importing data from SQL Server into Access, convert those text values when you pull them in to Access.
If the Access table is a link to a SQL Server object, create a view in SQL Server which casts the text date column to an Access-compatible date type. Then on the Access side, replace your existing link with a link to the view.
If you need to edit the date values in Access, not just display and sort them, include both the original text column and the transformed date version in your view. Do your Access edits to the text column; sort on the Date/Time column.