Time Data Entry

[Reid]

I have to do data entry using a lot of times. I'd like to use jut the number pad for everything. Is there a way I can type in 900 and have it be 9:00 AM? or maybe do everything in military time? 0900 would be 9:00 AM, 1300 would be 1:00 PM, etc?

[Vaughan]

Have you tried an auto-enter calculation (or script trigger) that processes the data entry and turns it into a vlaid time format?

[Reid]

I don't think I have. How do I set that up?

Right now I have it so that the format is set up in hours hhmm so if I type in "9" it automatically changes it to "9:00 AM". The problem is for minutes. If the time is 10:45 AM I can't just type in 1045. I'd have to type the colon key which gets cumbersome if I'm doing it thousands of times a week.

[comment]

Try it this way?

TimeEntry.zip

[Reid]

Thanks for the file. When I type in 215, however, it changes it to 215:00 instead of 2:15 AM. I tried changing the format in layout mode but that didn't help. Any other ideas?

[comment]

I don't know - it works fine for me (v.11, OS X 10.5). Formatting the field affects only the display, not the data entry.

[Lee Smith]

Hi comment,

It acted the same for me as it did for Reid.

11.0v2 A & Snow Leopard.

Lee

[comment]

I really don't know:

http://screencast.com/t/YTRjYjQ4NW

[Lee Smith]

see my test here.

Link

[Reid]

I figured it out!

By default, FM ticks the "Do not replace existing value of field (if any)" box. You have to un-tick it. Now it works great!

Thanks!

[comment]

I think it has to do with the OS setting being 12-hour time. The auto-enter calculation has a very delicate timing problem - certain functions cannot be used because they are evaluated only after the input has already been interpreted as time.

It would probably be best to use a script trigger here, to cover all bases.