entering dates

[tomp]

My application is used internationally where standard xx/xx/yyyy notation can mean different things (sometimes mm/dd, sometimes dd/mm depending on where you are.

I have formatted my output to an 'international'format, e.g., 24 Nov 08 so I don't care where folks view the data/reports.

My problem is that the only date format accepted when entering a date field is mm/dd or mm/dd/yyyy. There is enough to train users on so they don't have to be conscious of entering data in a format that is not native to them. Worse, they may not realize an error is made (e.g., both 11/12/08 and 12/11/08 are valid but very different depending on where you are.

I was hoping FM would recognize 12Nov08 or something else, but apparently not.

I could create a custom function to convert 12Nov08 to the acceptable format, but don't know if or how the conversion could be automatically triggered when tabbing out of the date entry field (is that possible?).

Have others faced this dilemma? What did you have as a solution?

[comment]

Go to File Options… > Text and select 'Always use current system settings'.

[tomp]

thanks.

I'll give it a try.