2.138 .format

This attribute allocates a format to an object.

With the datetime object this attribute defines the display format.

With the .format attribute of the setup object the format variant (number) can be queried.

Definition

  • Data type

    string, object [ format ]

    string, object [ text ] (datetime)

    integer (setup)

  • Access

    get, set

    get, set (setup)

  • changed event

    yes

  • C

    Identifier: AT_format

    Data type: DT_string, DT_format

    Data type: DT_string , DT_text (datetime)

    Data type: DT_integer (setup)

  • COBOL

    Identifier: AT-format

    Data type: DT-string, DT-format

    Data type: DT-string, Dt-text (datetime)

    Data type: DT-integer (setup)

  • Classification

    text attribute

As formats either string or identifier is permitted:

Bei String ist es die Formatbeschreibung. Details hierzu finden Sie in der “Resource Reference” bei der Layoutressource format.

string

format description

identifier

must be a format resource

For details please refer to chapter “format” in the “Resource Reference”.

A format resource may only be specified if the attribute .formatfunc has not already been set (see also chapter “Format Functions” in manual “C Interface - Basics”).

datetime

This attribute defines the display format of the datetime object.

For write access (set), values of the data type string and text resources can be specified. text resources are automatically converted to string.

Read access (get) always returns a value of the data type string.

Value range

""

short date format (like "widget:d")

widget:d

system format: short date format

widget:dd

system format: short date format with 4-digit year

widget:ddd

system format: long date format

widget:t

system format: time format

<format_string>

format string for defining the display format

System formats

The system formats depend on the language and region settings of the operating system. They completely determine the display format and cannot be combined with each other or with format strings. For example, no caption can be added to a system format.

Format strings

Format strings consist of formatting characters that define which parts of a date are displayed and how those parts are displayed.

Table 1-2: Formatting characters of the datetime object

Formatting Character

Display

d

day with as many digits as necessary

dd

day with 2 digits, possibly with leading 0

ddd

name of the weekday (language-dependent), abbreviated to 3 characters

dddd

full name of the weekday (language-dependent)

h

hour in 12-hour format with as many digits as necessary

hh

hour in 12-hour format with 2 digits, possibly with leading 0

H

hour in 24-hour format with as many digits as necessary

HH

hour in 24-hour format with 2 digits, possibly with leading 0

m

minute with as many digits as necessary

mm

minute with 2 digits, possibly with leading 0

M

month with as many digits as necessary

MM

month with 2 digits, possibly with leading 0

MMM

month name (language-dependent), abbreviated to 3 characters

MMMM

full month name (language-dependent)

s

second with as many digits as necessary

ss

second with 2 digits, possibly with leading 0

t

morning or afternoon indicator (language-dependent, in English AM and PM) with one character; use is not recommended.

tt

morning or afternoon indicator (language-dependent, in English AM and PM) with 2 characters

yy

year with 2 digits

yyyy

year with 4 digits

Any characters other than the formatting characters mentioned are included in the display. Characters to be displayed may optionally be enclosed in single quotes ('). They must be enclosed in single quotes if they are equivalent to a formatting character. To display a single quotation mark, it must be doubled in the format string ('').

Example

The format string 'Today is 'dddd', 'MMM dd', 'yyyyy produces the following output: Today is Friday, Jul 04, 2014.

Notes

  • If the format string is incorrect, the system-dependent standard format is used (corresponds to .format ="").
  • The labels and symbols displayed for ddd, dddd, MMM, MMMM, t, and tt are determined by the language and region settings of the system.
  • With long display texts, it may happen that no calendar symbol is displayed on the button for opening the calendar.

setup

With the .format attribute of the setup object the format variant (number) can be queried.