Re: Date format detection

Hi Liz,

Wow, thanks so much. I'll give it a good reading.

Thanks again.
Andy

"Liz" <liz_wants_no_spam@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:xn0e8htth7mql4r00u@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Andy wrote:
>
>> I can't find the definition for getdateformat. How do I use it?
>> Thanks and sorry for the ignorance.
>
> Its a windows API
>
> The GetDateFormat function formats a date as a date string for a
> specified locale. The function formats either a specified date or the
> local system date.
>
> int GetDateFormat(
> LCID Locale, // locale
> DWORD dwFlags, // options
> CONST SYSTEMTIME *lpDate, // date
> LPCTSTR lpFormat, // date format
> LPTSTR lpDateStr, // formatted string buffer
> int cchDate // size of buffer
> );
> Parameters
> Locale
> [in] Specifies the locale for which the date string is to be formatted.
> If lpFormat is NULL, the function formats the string according to the
> date format for this locale. If lpFormat is not NULL, the function uses
> the locale only for information not specified in the format picture
> string (for example, the locale's day and month names).
> This parameter can be a locale identifier created by the MAKELCID
> macro, or one of the following predefined values. Value Meaning
> LOCALE_SYSTEM_DEFAULT Default system locale.
> LOCALE_USER_DEFAULT Default user locale.
>
>
>
> dwFlags
> [in] Specifies various function options. If lpFormat is non-NULL, this
> parameter must be zero.
> If lpFormat is NULL, you can specify a combination of the following
> values. Value Meaning
> LOCALE_NOUSEROVERRIDE If set, the function formats the string using
> the system default-date format for the specified locale. If not set,
> the function formats the string using any user overrides to the
> locale's default-date format.
> LOCALE_USE_CP_ACP Uses the system ANSI code page for string translation
> instead of the locale's code page. See Code Page Identifiers for a list
> of ANSI and other code pages.
> DATE_SHORTDATE Uses the short date format. This is the default. This
> value cannot be used with DATE_LONGDATE or DATE_YEARMONTH.
> DATE_LONGDATE Uses the long date format. This value cannot be used with
> DATE_SHORTDATE or DATE_YEARMONTH.
> DATE_YEARMONTH Uses the year/month format. This value cannot be used
> with DATE_SHORTDATE or DATE_LONGDATE.
> DATE_USE_ALT_CALENDAR Uses the alternate calendar, if one exists, to
> format the date string. If this flag is set, the function uses the
> default format for that alternate calendar, rather than using any user
> overrides. The user overrides will be used only in the event that there
> is no default format for the specified alternate calendar.
> DATE_LTRREADING Adds marks for left-to-right reading layout. This value
> cannot be used with DATE_RTLREADING.
> DATE_RTLREADING Adds marks for right-to-left reading layout. This value
> cannot be used with DATE_LTRREADING
>
>
>
> If you do not specify either DATE_YEARMONTH, DATE_SHORTDATE, or
> DATE_LONGDATE, and lpFormat is NULL, then DATE_SHORTDATE is the default.
>
> lpDate
> [in] Pointer to a SYSTEMTIME structure that contains the date
> information to be formatted. If this pointer is NULL, the function uses
> the current local system date.
> lpFormat
> [in] Pointer to a format picture string that is used to form the date
> string. The format picture string must be zero terminated. If lpFormat
> is NULL, the function uses the date format of the specified locale.
> Use the following elements to construct a format picture string. If you
> use spaces to separate the elements in the format string, these spaces
> will appear in the same location in the output string. The letters must
> be in uppercase or lowercase as shown in the table (for example, "MM"
> not "mm"). Characters in the format string that are enclosed in single
> quotation marks will appear in the same location and unchanged in the
> output string. Picture Meaning
> d Day of month as digits with no leading zero for single-digit days.
> dd Day of month as digits with leading zero for single-digit days.
> ddd Day of week as a three-letter abbreviation. The function uses the
> LOCALE_SABBREVDAYNAME value associated with the specified locale.
> dddd Day of week as its full name. The function uses the
> LOCALE_SDAYNAME value associated with the specified locale.
> M Month as digits with no leading zero for single-digit months.
> MM Month as digits with leading zero for single-digit months.
> MMM Month as a three-letter abbreviation. The function uses the
> LOCALE_SABBREVMONTHNAME value associated with the specified locale.
> MMMM Month as its full name. The function uses the LOCALE_SMONTHNAME
> value associated with the specified locale.
> y Year as last two digits, but with no leading zero for years less than
> 10.
> yy Year as last two digits, but with leading zero for years less than
> 10.
> yyyy Year represented by full four digits.
> gg Period/era string. The function uses the CAL_SERASTRING value
> associated with the specified locale. This element is ignored if the
> date to be formatted does not have an associated era or period string.
>
>
>
> For example, to get the date string
>
> "Wed, Aug 31 94"
> use the following picture string:
>
> "ddd',' MMM dd yy"
> lpDateStr
> [out] Pointer to a buffer that receives the formatted date string.
> cchDate
> [in] Specifies the size, in TCHARs, of the lpDateStr buffer. If cchDate
> is zero, the function returns the number of TCHARs required to hold the
> formatted date string, and the buffer pointed to by lpDateStr is not
> used.
> Return Values
> If the function succeeds, the return value is the number of TCHARs
> written to the lpDateStr buffer, or if the cchDate parameter is zero,
> the number of TCHARs required to hold the formatted date string. The
> count includes the terminating null.
>
> If the function fails, the return value is zero. To get extended error
> information, call GetLastError. GetLastError may return one of the
> following error codes:
>
> ERROR_INSUFFICIENT_BUFFER
> ERROR_INVALID_FLAGS
> ERROR_INVALID_PARAMETER
> Remarks
> The earliest date supported by this function is January 1, 1601.
>
> The day name, abbreviated day name, month name, and abbreviated month
> name are all localized based on the locale identifier.
>
> The date values in the SYSTEMTIME structure pointed to by lpDate must
> be valid. The function checks each of the date values: year, month,
> day, and day of week. If the day of the week is incorrect, the function
> uses the correct value, and returns no error. If any of the other date
> values are outside the correct range, the function fails, and sets the
> last-error to ERROR_INVALID_PARAMETER.
>
> The function ignores the time portions of the SYSTEMTIME structure
> pointed to by lpDate: wHour, wMinute, wSecond, and wMilliseconds.
>
> If the lpFormat parameter is a bad format string, no errors are
> returned. The function simply forms the best date string that it can.
> For example, the only year pictures that are valid are L"yyyy" and
> L"yy" (the 'L' indicates a Unicode (16-bit characters) string). If L"y"
> is passed in, the function assumes L"yy". If L"yyy" is passed in, the
> function assumes L"yyyy". If more than 4 date (L"dddd") or 4 month
> (L"MMMM") pictures are passed in, then the function defaults to L"dddd"
> or L"MMMM".
>
> Any text that should remain in its exact form in the date string should
> be enclosed within single quotation marks in the date format picture.
> The single quotation mark may also be used as an escape character to
> allow the single quotation mark itself to be displayed in the date
> string. However, the escape sequence must be enclosed within two single
> quotation marks. For example, to display the date as "May '93", the
> format string would be: L"MMMM ''''yy" The first and last single
> quotation marks are the enclosing quotation marks. The second and third
> single quotation marks are the escape sequence to allow the single
> quotation mark to be displayed before the century.
>
> When the date picture contains a numeric form of the day (either d or
> dd) followed by the full month name (MMMM), the genitive form of the
> month name is returned in the date string.
>
> To obtain the default short and long date format without performing any
> actual formatting, use the GetLocaleInfo function with the
> LOCALE_SSHORTDATE or LOCALE_SLONGDATE parameter. To get the date format
> for an alternate calendar, use GetLocaleInfo with the
> LOCALE_IOPTIONALCALENDAR parameter. To get the date format for a
> particular calendar, use GetCalendarInfo. Also, to return all of the
> date formats for a particular calendar, you can use EnumCalendarInfo or
> EnumDateFormatsEx.
>
> Note: When the ANSI version of this function is used with a
> Unicode-only LCID, the call can succeed because the system uses the
> system code page. However, characters that are undefined in the system
> code page appear in the string as a question mark (?). To determine
> which LCIDs are Unicode-only, see Table of Language Identifiers.
>
> Windows 95/98/Me: GetDateFormatW is supported by the Microsoft Layer
> for Unicode. To use this, you must add certain files to your
> application, as outlined in Microsoft Layer for Unicode on Windows
> 95/98/Me Systems.
>
>
> --
> Liz the Brit


.

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