Calculate social security number into birthday

[LasseJ]

Hi all

Can anyone help me out on this one: A danish social security numbers first 6 digits are a short version of a persons birthday (Ex: 060768 = 6. of June, 1968)

Can anyone help me with a calculation (or does it have to be a lookup??) that change the digits into a date and year? i.e 06-07-1968

Regards

Lasse

[comment]

060768 = 6. of June, 1968

Either June 7 or July 6, I think?

In any case, it should be quite easy to convert to date, using the Date() and Middle functions. But you need to set an arbitrary limit for the century, because "010108" could be either 2 weeks or 100 years old.

[LasseJ]

Of course, July 6. You are right!

Could someone please give me an example on how to write the calculation?

Best regards

Lasse

[Søren Dyhr]

Medtoderne er lige så talrige som der er udviklere til, jeg ville måske gøre sådan her:

GetAsDate ( Replace ( Replace ( cprNr ; 3 ; 0 ; "-" ) ; 6 ; 0 ; "-" ) )

--sd

[comment]

That's going to break if your file/OS doesn't use d/m/y date format.

[Søren Dyhr]

Indeed you are in theory right - but how common is it japanese or us-citizen deals with danish social security numbers, no-one else would choose a foreign format?

Double citizen ships perhaps....

--sd

[comment]

It depends on what you define as "a foreign format". Isn't Denmark a member of the EU?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_8601

[Søren Dyhr]

Denmark is, but never the less does the format still follow the reading direction of the social security number:

ddmmyyyy with hyphens or slashes or both.

It similar to the british ordering a pint, eventhough they ought to say 550 ml of lager please!

--sd

[comment]

Tsk, tsk. What are you actually saying here? That it's OK to use a calculation relying on a format that has a good chance of being changed in the near future? And your reference for this good practice are the patrons of a British pub?

[Søren Dyhr]

has a good chance of being changed in the near future

...and the odds are??? Well some what longer than you might expect!

When the civil servants use a system are they not to be changed for quite a while and that EU not is government, but issuer of directions which ideally should be implemented by local government's without threading on sore ethnic toes.

Europe is geographically to be a system of connected washtubs where the water not necessarily holds exactly the same temperature everywhere, any attempts to equalize by central demands are not going to happen. Only thing that change is the matters which can implemented with pragmatism.

EU isn't the super-state you might make it into, e.g. are Denmark although being among the first 13 member-states outside the eu-citizenship, common currency, common justice, common military:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edinburgh_Agreement

By and large are the politicians more eager than the population for the project as such, and dare not hear the public via polls ... a lot of the legislation is sneaked in, and never really wholeheartedly accepted, but merely admitted a certain relevance if it actually works as expected.

But often are the notion that one of the nation favours more than the others by enforcing trade regulations via the common system. So basically is it a system of granted exceptions!

--sd

[comment]

Those are Y2K arguments. There is a method that will work if you change your format. Another method will break. Why gamble?

[Søren Dyhr]

Indeed, but If it comes to a change might the social security number follow the change too, then would your Leftword( middlewords( etc. be exactly the same kind of gamble.

--sd

[comment]

Not really - because changing the existing SSN's (if someone dared to undertake such task) would be obviously related to any calculation relying upon it. Changing the date format should not have any effect.

Who are you, and what have you done with Søren Dyhr?

[LaRetta]

Who are you, and what have you done with Søren Dyhr?

Obviously kidnapped by the British pubbers.

[Søren Dyhr]

because changing the existing SSN's (if someone dared to undertake such task) would be obviously related to any calculation relying upon it

Exactly, people rely on the memorizable 6 first ciffers and if the world outside suddenly begins to use the reverse, would more people be arrested for thinking they were somebody else. Only the ones who were born a few years ago like the 040404 and 010101'ers could feel on safe side, and then again they would in that age not find much use for false teeth ...

And speaking of ID'ing british citizen, you must be mad ... I can't see why anyone with gestures indicating sobriety - be found signing such a treaty and expect it kept to the point. Half of the countries in europe are member of Nato, or Otan which is the same thing ... you're dealing 22-26 local languages both the latin and the greek alfabet is used and if Ukrain and Serbia get in eventually would the cyrillic alfabet be used as well.

All these flavours are actually endorsed by ethnic enclaves, and asking to do opposite, should examine Spains ethnic conflicts established under Franco ... union doesn't mean uniformity - in Europe.

--sd

[comment]

FYI, Denmark has adopted the ISO 8601 standard. I seem to recall members from Germany reporting that ISO 8601 is already gaining acceptance there. So it may be only a matter of time - or maybe it will never happen. I still say it's not worth the gamble, when a safe alternative is readily available - and I'm sure the real Søren would be the first one to agree.

And speaking of ID'ing british citizen, you must be mad ...

I may be mad - but I don't remember speaking of ID'ing british citizen!

[Søren Dyhr]

You could be right - but EU skepticism is more expressive from the countries in EU who not really suffered much under the german occupation of their nation in second world war or fascism as such ... there's a reluctance to see the point in the project, it's going to take at least some generations. In Denmark was it relatively free to join the resistance. This aspect translate to a hubris near feeling of self sufficiency ... which quite contradict the economic realities.

Your argument is fine, technically do we need to get the most visionary method implemented - way beyond y2k shortcuts. We take however a very different look on the risk of not giving it our best stab, what might happen over night in Germany doesn't translate well to Denmark or UK who by all means are the most skeptical members of the EU and the reason why Denmark entered was because we else would stand excessive measures of butter and bacon, we then couldn't export to UK when they joined - they would have to favor member-states. Why UK joined is quite a riddle to the rest of europe and even the british.

The autorities here do not dare to enforce EU regulations, without having thought up a conning way to do it, which usually takes time, I'm pretty sure the ISO thing would come much later than in Germany or the Benelux, even in france do the authorities have move with the outmost care, if it isn't giving the french population a felt advantage over the rest of the EU population ... can they stick their suggestions where the grass don't grow.

--sd

[comment]

technically do we need to get the most visionary method implemented - way beyond y2k shortcuts. We take however a very different look on the risk of not giving it our best stab

I don't think this a technical issue. I believe the OP should be made aware of the pros and cons of each suggested method. My assessment of the risk is just as irrelevant of yours: it is the OP's solution, and the OP's sole responsibility - provided he or she is given the necessary information to make the decision.

[LasseJ]

Uhh. I almost started a war, there :

Anyways.. Since Sørens suggestion is the only to be seen I'll take it and leave the rest to you guys.

!tol a knaht

Regards

Lasse

[comment]

Well, if you wanted to, you could have opened up the Help on Date() and Middle() functions and come up with another solution all by yourself. Or at least make an attempt and post it here to learn if it can be improved. That is if you are interested in learning. Otherwise you'll have to take any baked pigeon that will oblige you by flying into your mouth.

[Søren Dyhr]

Could it be fried instead?Comment is right, there are issues with my suggestion ... well all solutions have issues, you just have to dig deeper in his ... but the danger of EU demanding a sudden change seems very little likely ... take an example where it have been attempted.

Accountants can use thier calculater blindfolded, if it weren't that EU regulations demanded the numberic keyboard should turned upside down as a kind of help to the week of sight. But massive demands for the "oldfasion" numeric keyboard have made the regulation a travesty ... something simply doesn't catch on, no matter how wise it might seem from the bureaucrats point of view.

Lasse and I vividly remember, a directive about how bend a cucumber could be ... well it made headlines in press, and all including the supreme european court, allows local interpretations still can take place ... although some standardization would be fine.

Actions are hardly ever taken for their intrisinct merrits!

But when it comes to it are we equally stupid in believing somebody really read all we write. There is a fun anecdote about the telegraph-director of the newly created Wiemar republic's telegraph. He was so eager to spread the gospel about the Weimar republics endless virtues, that it became quite a bill to pay for the republic, so a decision was to let him continue unaware the wires actually were cut.

--sd

[comment]

a decision was to let him continue unaware the wires actually were cut.

I often feel that way when I post here. :

[Søren Dyhr]

Well according to Lee ...have I personally had it comming, some are SO annoyed with my lateral thinking that my links never are pursued. But you "baked pigeon" metaphor is exactly what this is about!

Most sysops have gotten the wrong thought that I hate repeaters, but it's instead something I stumbled over elsewhere - I have linked to it before, but I better repost it so it can make some sense, since my linking are in vain.

"Algorithms are the foundation of logic - and abstract thinking. Book

algorithms challenge students to think in a way that allows them to

represent real world situations inside the computer. Abstraction is good in

the hands of an educated and knowledgable person. In the hands of an

amateur it can give quick gratification, accompanied by a false sense of

power. If the student lacks the fundamental knowledge of how things link

together in the computer then all programs will simply seem magical, and

thus is born the cut and paste programmer who never understands a thing, but

simplely "messes" with code until it works. Then you get .. . well . . .the

quality of software that is very common today; I call it shitware.

Programming serves a double purpose - of course its innate use is obvious -

getting the computer to do what you want it to. However, learning to

program is an invaluable resource for learning more about the world and

about yourself. But don't misunderstand, I'm not trying to say it is the

only way."

Not that anyone care, but it's from here:

http://www.velocityreviews.com/forums/t148991-p2-algorithms-and-pointers.html

Lateral thinking is if anyone should be around for other reasons than just weeding for tricks and fixes (baked pigeon's), and havn't heard the term before:

... is about reasoning that is not immediately obvious and about ideas that may not be obtainable by using only traditional step-by-step logic

--sd

[LaRetta]

Hey, Soren, I may not always understand what you say but I always read your links. I've gotten some great information from (most of) them! A few have flown over my head (and by my mouth) but I take all feedings; some steak, some pigeon. I even hunt down a few turkeys on my own ...

[Søren Dyhr]

What I refer to is when I was moderated lately:

The problem with doing it that way, is that I rarely follow your links to other sites, because you have a habit of pointing at things Non-FileMaker. So, when you post a good one like this, it goes unnoticed by me, and maybe Shawn in this case.

It's just like that "Me And Bobby McGee" song, freedom is just another word for nothing else to loose.

We are not born in freedom, but instead into a mythology and a lingual discourse which defines how freedom should be interpreted, where whats important or irrelevant varies largely from each grouping of people.

Technical problems are usually euphemisms for a people problem of not being abel to escape a discourse, eagerly trying to make the tool be something which is out of it's actual realm.

Attempts to put on perspective is in Lee's view - Non Filemaker. Well perhaps, but it's part of solving problems, unless dogmas are considered a better choise!

This brings in an important issue, should you really chase after books like "Filemaker for Dummies" or "The Missing Manual" or such, or should you instead have established a method to prevent you from falling in the first occuring pithole... Immanuel Kant do here endorse the reading of classics (Homer, Cicero etc.) ...although he who was born of scottish presbyterian parents in Königsberg in Prussia, had a weak heart for Shakespeare which at that time were - modern.

But basicly is all this: "Kant's rejection of Hume's empiricism" lets take one of his very best:

Concepts without intuitions [are] empty, intuitions without concepts [are] blind

--sd