Date and Time (OpenOffice.org Runtime Library)

BASIC Guide

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• The Language of OpenOffice.org Basic

• Overview of a Basic Program
• Working With Variables
• Strings
• Numbers
• Boolean Values
• Date and Time
• Arrays
• Scope and Life Span of Variables
• Constants
• Operators
• Branching
• Loops
• Procedures and Functions
• Error Handling
• Other Instructions

• Runtime Library

• Conversion Functions
• Strings
• Date and Time
• Files and Directories
• Message and Input Boxes
• Other Functions

• Introduction to the API

• Universal Network Objects (UNO)
• Properties and Methods
• Modules, Services and Interfaces
• Tools for Working with UNO
• Overview of Central Interfaces

• Working with Documents

• The StarDesktop
• Styles and Templates

• Text Documents

• The Structure of Text Documents
• Editing Text Documents
• More than Just Text

• Spreadsheet Documents

• The Structure of Spreadsheets
  • Rows and Columns
  • Cells and Ranges
  • Formatting Spreadsheet Documents
• Editing Spreadsheet Documents

• Drawings and Presentations

• The Structure of Drawings
• Editing Drawing Objects
• Presentations

• Charts (Diagrams)

• Using Charts in Spreadsheets
• The Structure of Charts
• Chart Types

• Databases

• SQL: a Query Language
• Types of Database Access
• Data Sources
• Database Access

• Dialogs

• Working With Dialogs
• Properties
• Events
• Dialog Control Elements

• Forms

• Working With Forms
• Control Element Forms
• Database Forms

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OpenOffice.org Basic provides the Date data type, which saves the date and time details in binary format.

Specification of Date and Time Details within the Program Code

You can assign a date to a date variable through the assignment of a simple string:

Dim MyDate As Date
MyDate = "24.1.2002"

This assignment can function properly because OpenOffice.org Basic automatically converts the date value defined as a string into a date variable. This type of assignment, however, can cause errors, date and time values are defined and displayed differently in different countries.

Since OpenOffice.org Basic uses the country-specific settings of the operating system when converting a string into a date value, the expression shown previously only functions correctly if the country-specific settings match the string expression.

To avoid this problem, the DateSerial function should be used to assign a fixed value to a date variable:

Dim MyVar As Date
MyDate = DateSerial (2001, 1, 24)

The function parameter must be in the sequence: year, month, day. The function ensures that the variable is actually assigned the correct value regardless of the country-specific settings

The TimeSerial function formats time details in the same way that the DateSerial function formats dates:

Dim MyVar As Date
MyDate =  TimeSerial(11, 23, 45)

Their parameters should be specified in the sequence: hours, minutes, seconds.

Extracting Date and Time Details

The following functions form the counterpart to the DateSerial and TimeSerial functions:

Day(MyDate)

returns the day of the month from MyDate.

Month(MyDate)

returns the month from MyDate.

Year(MyDate)

returns the year from MyDate.

Weekday(MyDate)

returns the number of the weekday from MyDate.

Hour(MyTime)

returns the hours from MyTime.

Minute(MyTime)

returns the minutes from MyTime.

Second(MyTime)

returns the seconds from MyTime.

These functions extract the date or time sections from a specified Date variable. The following example checks whether the date saved in MyDate is in the year 2003.

Dim MyDate As Date
' ... Initialization of MyDate

If Year(MyDate) = 2003 Then
  ' ... Specified date is in the year 2003
End If

In the same way, the following example checks whether MyTime is between 12 and 14 hours.

Dim MyTime As Date
' ... Initialization of MyTime

If Hour(MyTime) >= 12 And Hour(MyTime) < 14 Then
  ' ... Specified time is between 12 and 14 hours
End If

The Weekday function returns the number of the weekday for the transferred date:

Dim MyDate As Date
Dim MyWeekday As String
' ... initialize MyDate

Select Case WeekDay(MyDate)
  case 1
    MyWeekday = "Sunday"
  case 2
    MyWeekday = "Monday"
  case 3
    MyWeekday = "Tuesday"
  case 4
    MyWeekday = "Wednesday"
  case 5
    MyWeekday = "Thursday"
  case 6
    MyWeekday = "Friday"
  case 7
    MyWeekday = "Saturday"
End Select

Sunday is considered the first day of the week.

Retrieving System Date and Time

The following functions are available in OpenOffice.org Basic to retrieve the system time and system date:

Date

returns the present date as a string. The format depends on localization settings.

Time

returns the present time as a string.

Now

returns the present point in time (date and time) as a combined value of type Date.

Content on this page is licensed under the Public Documentation License (PDL).