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Archiver > TMG > 2003-01 > 1041542454


From: Robin Lamacraft <>
Subject: [TMG] Date Sorting (was General tags or VERY specific tags?)
Date: Fri, 03 Jan 2003 07:53:27 +1030
References: <000b01c2b293$ff76fd40$6eb52244@khnlic0umhcfd><5.2.0.9.2.20030102132413.02ffd560@pop3.norton.antivirus>
In-Reply-To: <5.1.0.14.2.20030102143956.05c10ec0@mail.whollygenes.com>


Hi BobV and other concerned users.

[This message is not intended to be raised in discussion until TMG5 CD is
out. It is here now to summarize a point of view while I remember to log it.]

The sorting of before and after incomplete dates amongst other complete
dates causes quite a lot of confusion as it does not match common usage in
Australia. I am not concerned about how it was done by UFT or any other
program - that is a data migration issue. The important issue is for the
TMG5 user to get what they expect when they use a certain construct.

I think that this confusion is because of the way incomplete dates are
treated in TMG. It is _my_ understanding that an incomplete date is
internally represented by putting a zero for the missing day and/or month. So
"1800" is coded as 0 (Jan-1) 1800
"Jan 1800" is coded as 0 Jan 1800
"2 Jan 1800" is coded as 2 Jan 1800

Now these values work for the "before" sorting
"before 1800" - before the _start_ of year 1800
"before Jan 1800" - before the _start_ of month Jan 1800
"before 2 Jan 1800" - before the _start_ of day 2 Jan 1800

I believe TMG5 matches my "before" expectations here.

For "after" dates, there are common confusions if the comparison uses the
same logic;
"after 2 Jan 1800" - meaning any date after the _end_ of day 2 Jan 1800
"after Jan 1800" - meaning any date after the _end_ of month Jan 1800.
"after 1800" - meaning any date after the _end_ of year 1800.

Well that is the way that I see it. That is the way that I would like to
see it work down-under.

I think that for _end_ comparisons with other dates to work, these "after"
dates have to be coded with opposite extreme values (like 99 for the
missing month or day) to make sure that part of the year or part of the
month is not included as included in the date range.

"Between" has common parlance here (Australia) as being inclusive for
dates. That is - "between 1802 and 1807" includes all the days from _start_
of year 1802 to the _end_ of year 1807. "between March 1802 and September
1807" includes all the days from the _start_ of month March 1802 until the
_end_ of month September 1807.

May be it will turn out that the US culture uses these imprecise dates
differently. If so, then this needs further discussion.

Robin Lamacraft (Adelaide, Australia)

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