PeopleCode | Mastering the date to string conversion function.
A. Introduction
The PeopleCode function ‘DateTimetoLocalizedString’ converts a date, time or date-time value into a formatted string. Most of the challenge in using this command comes from making sense of the date/time format parameter. There are at least fifteen symbols in the format pattern that each carry a special meaning. In addition, the parameters are case sensitive. An upper-case ‘M’ indicates a month while a lower-case ‘m’ indicates a minute.
Also, don’t confuse the format patterns of ‘DateTimetoLocalizedString’ with those used by the ‘TO_CHAR’ or ‘TO_DATE’ functions in Oracle SQL. The PeopleCode function uses a different ‘language’ to specify the format type.
B. DateTimetoLocalizedString in Practice
Below are a few examples of ‘DateTimetoLocalizedString’ using a date of 01/01/2001 and a time of 2:15 pm:
/* Set date-time to 1 January 2001, 2:15 pm */ Local datetime &srcDate = DateTime6(2001, 1, 1, 14, 15, 0); Local string &dateString; /* 1 Jan 2001 */ &dateString = DateTimeToLocalizedString(&srcDate, "d MMM yyyy"); /* 01 Jan 2001 */ &dateString = DateTimeToLocalizedString(&srcDate, "dd MMM yyyy"); /* 01/01/2001 */ &dateString = DateTimeToLocalizedString(&srcDate, "dd/MM/yyyy"); /* 01.01.01 */ &dateString = DateTimeToLocalizedString(&srcDate, "dd.MM.yy"); /* Monday 1 January 2001 */ &dateString = DateTimeToLocalizedString(&srcDate, "EEEE d MMMM yyyy"); /* Mon 1 Jan 2001 */ &dateString = DateTimeToLocalizedString(&srcDate, "EEE d MMM yyyy"); /* 20010101 */ &dateString = DateTimeToLocalizedString(&srcDate, "yyyyMMdd"); /* 2:15 PM */ &dateString = DateTimeToLocalizedString(&srcDate, "h:mm a"); /* 1415 */ &dateString = DateTimeToLocalizedString(&srcDate, "km"); /* 01/01/2001 2:15 PM */ &dateString = DateTimeToLocalizedString(&srcDate, "dd/MM/yyyy h:mm a");
See Also:
Tip 032: Summary of Date Functions
Tip 053: Function NumberToString