Date Searching

rbuser

This seems like a newb question but holy cow I can't figure it out. On a
table with a date/time field, or just a date only field, I'd like to pull
only records from the database that are in the future.

IE. TableName.EventDate > TODAY

TIA.

rbuser

Are you using TQueries or TTables? What DB engine are you connected to?

rbuser

I'm not a programmer so TQueries and TTables is greek to me. M$ SQL Server
is our database backend. The SQL Server GETDATE() function pulls the current
system time in, but I can't figure out a way to utilize it. You can't use it
under the Search tab on a data Query. And date comparisons don't seem to
work in RAP under the Calc tab.

I don't know what else to tell you.

I suppose I could set up this report to ask the user for the current date
each time it's run. But that seems cheesy. And quite unprofessional. I'm
sure there's a way to do this the right way.

digitalmetaphors

Expression searching in DADE isn't currently supported. You'll have to
provide a date in the search criteria. Expression searching is on or ToDo
list.

To compare dates in RAP, use the detail band's BeforePrint event. Then check
the pipeline field value against the function CurrentDate.

if (plOrders['SaleDate'] > CurrentDate) then
DetailBand.Visible := True
else
DetailBand.Visble := False;


Cheers,

Jim Bennett
Digital Metaphors

rbuser

I'd had this "skip record" in mind as a possible solution. Is there a way to
do it that actually skips the record instead of just making the band
invisible? On a large data return (which will happen every time the report
is run if it has to pull all records then filter in a RAP statement) this
would create a performance problem, I would imagine. I suppose a static
filter could be set up on the Data Query that filters/searches only for
records in the current year or month (greater than 01/01/02 or something),
updated every so often, then this RAP statement refines the report to only
future events.

Thanks for letting me know this is on your To Do list. We'll look forward to
it in a future release.

digitalmetaphors

To limit the dataset, you need to use the Autosearch feature. When you are
in DADE, you can set the search criteria to be an autosearch criteria.
Since we don't support search expressions in searching, you'll have to have
the user set today's date in the autosearch criteria.

Unfortunately, you previously mentioned that you weren't a programmer, so
this eliminates the option where you can write Delphi code to set the
autosearch values behind the scenes at runtime, without showing the
autosearch dialog:( There is an example of this in your installed
C:\ProgramFiles\Borland\Delphi\RBuilder\Demos\AutoSearch\6.Set EndUser
Search Criteria In Code\


Cheers,

Jim Bennett
Digital Metaphors