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    Change the Date Format

    • Article Type: General
    • Product: Aleph
    • Product Version: 20

    Desired Outcome Goal:
    Change the date format.

    Procedure:
    There are multiple variables in Aleph controlling date format.
    1. aleph_date_time (defined on the server)
    2. date_style_s (defined on the server)
    3. date_style_f (defined on the server)
    4. date_format (defined on the client)

    Steps:

    1. Set the central definition on the server (aleph_start file > aleph_date_time variable). The aleph_date_time sets the date style globally. Note that aleph_date_time ONLY controls which set of date_style variables described in step 2 will be read by the system.
    Options:
    * 1 = U.S.
    * 2 = European (or rest of world)
    For example, 19 January 2012 can be 19/01/2012 in European format or 01/19/2012 in U.S. format.

    2. Fine-tune date display on the server (aleph_start file). Full option details are provided below in the Additional Information section.
    * date_style_s variable = dates on screens which are only for display.
    * date_style_f variable = dates in editable forms

    3. If the GUI and the Web OPAC date styles need to be different, these variables should copied to www_server.conf (Web OPAC) and/or pc_server_defaults (GUI). The settings in those files override the default values defined in aleph_start (step 2).

    4. If the GUI date style needs to be different on specific computers, configure alephcom.ini on the PC. This overrides the date_style_f server-side settings, but NOT date_style_s!
    Perhaps an American staff member wants a different date format on the workstation than an English staff member.
    Note that this setting offers date separator options that are not available in the server variables. For example, dot (.) is an option here.
    [Date_Format]
    DateSequence=dmy
    ; s or S is space in separator
    HourSeparator=:
    DateSeparator=.

    Additional Information

    * Note that time display can also be controlled via time_style_s and time_style_f, but they are not discussed in this article.

    * The aleph_start section looks like this (the 1st line in the example, the aleph_date_time setting from step 1, determines which set of variables will be used):

    setenv aleph_date_time 2
    #
    switch ($aleph_date_time)
    case 1:
    # US
    setenv date_style_s 15
    setenv date_style_f 16
    setenv time_style_s 04
    setenv time_style_f 04
    breaksw
    case 2:
    # European
    setenv date_style_s 11
    setenv date_style_f 12
    setenv time_style_s 01
    setenv time_style_f 01
    breaksw
    endsw

    Each variable has a 2-digit value.
    * 1st digit rules the separator used in the date
    * 2nd digit rules the sequence of year, month and date

    1st Digit Options:
    0: separator hyphen (-)
    1: separator slash (/)
    2: separator blank ( )
    3: no separator

    2nd Digit Options
    If 1st digit is 0, 1, or 2:
    - 1: DDMMYY (19-01-12)
    - 2: DDMMYYYY (19-01-2012)
    - 3: DDMMMMMYYYY (19-January-2012)
    - 4: DDMMMYYYY (19-Jan-2012)
    - 5: MMDDYY (01-19-12)
    - 6: MMDDYYYY (01-19-2012)
    - 7: MMMMMDDYYYY (January-19-2012)
    - 8: MMMDDYYYY (Jan-19-2012)
    If 1st digit is 3:
    - 1: DDMMYY (190112)
    - 2: MMDDYY (011912)
    - 3: YYMMDD (120119)
    - 4: DDMMYYYY (19012012)
    - 5: MMDDYYYY (01192012)
    - 6: YYYYMMDD (20120119)

    * This article was sent as Tips & Advice No. 72 to European customers.

    Category: ALEPH


    • Article last edited: 1/10/2014
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