Re: Informix On Line 5.0 and 2000 Year Problem

>Date: Wed, 25 Jun 1997 11:44:25 ARG >From: "Alberto Teszkiewicz " <mix@dia.edu.ar> >X-Informix-List-Id: <list.15180> > >We heard that Informix On Line 5.0 has some difficulties to manage the >2000 Year problem. But we do not know which difficulties. Do you know >anything about it? None of the Informix products have any problem with the Year 2000 if you always use 3 or 4 digits for the year. If you specify 2 digits for the year, then existing 5.0x products (up to 5.08.UD1 that I know of), then the date is treated as being in the 20th century (ie 1900 is added to the 2-digit year). This will happen when the current year is 2000 or later, too, with the existing releases. There is due to be a 5.10 release later this year which will have the DBCENTURY environment variable introduced with 7.20. This will also mean that if you have not set the variable, when the current century is the 21st Century, 2000 will be added to 2-digit dates (but while the current century is the 20th, 1900 will be added). The 4.20 release of I4GL (etc) is also due to be released later this year and it will have DBCENTURY support built in. So, too, will the 6.10 release of I4GL (etc). There is a simple key rule to handling dates: *** ALWAYS DISPLAY 4 DIGITS FOR THE YEAR *** The database always stores the date accurately; it is up to your application to ensure that the data is interpreted as you expected. If you do not upgrade to the DBCENTURY-aware versions, it is critical that you display the 4-digit year value as otherwise people may type 00 hoping for 2000 and they will be disappointed when the database treats it as 1900. Yours, Jonathan Leffler (johnl@informix.com) #include <disclaimer.h>