Re: I NEED HELP WITH THE NEW CENTURY...

Antonio Julian Lopez <jmg@bitmailer.net> wrote: :We have Informix-SE 4.10 and Informix OnLine 5.02. The tool/language is the important part. I assume you have 4GL. Of course it is an engine issue as well with literal dates, but nobody should expect correct behaviour there without 4 digit years. : To deal with :the next century, we have found some problems that I hope someone :can help us: : :1. Doesn't exists a DBCENTURY variable, or similar, for these : versions of Informix ? No. It doesn't exist until some 7.x version and it's coresponding version of ESQL/C. No version of 4GL is yet out that supports DBCENTURY. I would expect it soon though. Even ISQL (perform screens) should eventually arrive as it becomes critical for the users, but I wouldn't rely on this. :2. If not exists, it's possible to program an easy solution to : avoid the obligation of introduce "4-digit" year in date : fields ? No. Not even a difficult solution is realy possible. : We have simulated the change of century in a machine, and : after this, all input dates (dd/mm/yy) are interpreted as : century 1900. Why doesn't Informix take the correct century : from the system date ? Because they haven't implemented the feature now related to DBCENTURY. What you should have done, and the only good solution even with the DBCENTURY functionallity, is to display 4 digit years. The DBCENTURY facility should preferably be used only to allow entry of two digit years, while the user should see 4 digits to allow for verification of correct century. With enough realestate problems on your screen there may of course be situations where this is very hard and you may select to show only two digits. If you have to do this your only real option is to upgrade when 4GL with DBCENTURY support becomes available. Informix needs to hurry this as our users are allready keying in more and more dates beyond year 2000. Nils.Myklebust@idg.no NM Data AS, P.O.Box 9090 Gronland, N-0133 Oslo, Norway My opinions are those of my company The Informix FAQ is at http://www.iiug.org