### Date field

A date is any valid date that can be entered in any format that unambiguously specifies the day, month and year in that order.

A date can be entered as a single 6 (2 digit year) or 8 (4 digit year) character string, or each part of the date can be separated with either a forward slash (/), dash (-), space ( ), decimal point (.) or comma (,). When using spaces, decimal points or commas as separators, you must enter a 4 digit year for the date to be considered valid. After you leave a date field, it will be converted to the standard short format for your PC – usually dd/mm/yy.

The following are examples of valid dates for June 8th, 2010: 080610, 08062010, 8/6/10, 08/06/10, 08/06/2010

To simplify the date entry process, a number of shortcut values have been built into each date field in Accentis Enterprise. Below is a list of these shortcuts and their effect, using 10/05/2011 as the current date.

Shortcut | Usage & Effect
d | Specifies a number of days from the current date. Examples: 4d Converts to 14/05/2011 0d Converts to 10/05/2011 -3d Converts to 07/05/2011
w | Specifies a number of weeks from the current date. Examples: 2w Converts to 28/05/2011 0w Converts to 10/05/2011 -1w Converts to 03/05/2011
m | Specifies a number of months from the current date. Examples: 2m Converts to 10/07/2011 0m Converts to 10/05/2011 -1m Converts to 10/04/2011
y | Specifies a number of months from the current date. Examples: 2m Converts to 10/07/2011 0m Converts to 10/05/2011 -1m Converts to 10/04/2011
eom | Specifies the last day of the current month. Example eom Converts to 31/05/2011
som | Specifies the start (first day) of the current month. Example som Converts to 01/05/2011
epm | Specifies the last day of the previous month. Example epm Converts to 30/04/2011
spm | Specifies the start (first day) of the previous month. Example spm Converts to 01/04/2011
enm | Specifies the last day of the next month. Example enm Converts to 30/06/2011
snm | Specifies the start (first day) of the next month. Example snm Converts to 01/06/2011