WD98: Month, Day Transposed After Updating Form Field (183305)



The information in this article applies to:

  • Microsoft Word 98 Macintosh Edition

This article was previously published under Q183305

SYMPTOMS

When you update a text form field that contains a date, the month and day will be transposed. For example, if the text form field is specified as date, and the date format is M/d/yyyy, and you type 1/8 for January 8, the field result is 8/1 when the field is updated.

This problem occurs when all of the following are true:

  • The text form field type is set for Date.

    -and-
  • The text form field date format begins with a month, such as M/d/yyyy.

    -and-
  • You type the date without including the year. For example, you type 1/8.

WORKAROUND

Microsoft provides programming examples for illustration only, without warranty either expressed or implied. This includes, but is not limited to, the implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. This article assumes that you are familiar with the programming language that is being demonstrated and with the tools that are used to create and to debug procedures. Microsoft support engineers can help explain the functionality of a particular procedure, but they will not modify these examples to provide added functionality or construct procedures to meet your specific requirements. For more information about the support options that are available and about how to contact Microsoft, visit the following Microsoft Web site: To work around this problem, use the following macro that formats the text you type into a form field in a specified date format:
   Sub FormatDate_OnExit()
      Dim fField As FormField
      Dim dDateFormat As String
      ' Specify the date format.
      sDateFormat = "M/d/yyyy"
      ' In the following command, change "Text1"
      ' to match your formfield bookmark name.
      Set fField = ActiveDocument.FormFields("Text1")
      If IsDate(fField.Result) Then
         fField.Result = Format$(CDate(fField.Result), sDateFormat)
      End If
   End Sub
				
After you create the macro, set up the form using the following steps:

  1. On the Tools menu, click Unprotect Document.
  2. Double-click the form field.
  3. In the Type box, click Regular Text.
  4. In the On Exit box click the macro you created above.
  5. Click OK.
When the form field is updated, the date is displayed in the format you specified in the macro.

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in the Microsoft products listed at the beginning of this article. We are researching this problem and will post new information here in the Microsoft Knowledge Base as it becomes available.

MORE INFORMATION

Word does not contain true date fields; just text with date formatting.

For additional information, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

181058 OFF98: How to Run Sample Code from Knowledge Base Articles

REFERENCES

For more information about getting help with Visual Basic for Applications, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

163435 VBA: Programming Resources for Visual Basic for Applications


Modification Type:MajorLast Reviewed:6/17/2005
Keywords:kbbug kbmacroexample kbpending KB183305