Date value in qvd is displayed as number when plotted in a bar chart

[#1]

Hi,
I have stored some QVD's with now() as one of the fields., so I can plot a graph across several qvds, showing trends etc.

The 'now()' field ("snapshot_date") is my x-axis, but on the graph it is displayed as a number, e.g. 39975.618

I cannot seem to change the format of this to display as a date, where I can in a table box.

Is there a clever way of doing this for a dimension in a chart?

Thanks,
Matt

[#2 · Accepted solution]

Hi Matt,

In the Dimension tab in the chart properties you can add a calculated dimension. You can then use a function like num('field','#.000') to create the format of the field.

Alternatively you could click on the '+' sign next to the dimension in the same tab as above and enter the num() function there under 'Text Format'.

Added value: Do you really need to save the minutes and seconds as well? This will increase you QVD size substantially as opposed to just saving yy/mm/dd.

Regards,

Werner

[#3]

Thanks, thats a very good point. I used today() instead - although here's a godo question...

my =today() returns yesterday's date
now() returns today's date and time

have you come across this before?

[#4]

Sorry,

I have worked this out. =Today(1) is returning today's actual date.

Thanks for your time, Werner.

[#5]

I Didn't come across this before. I got the same result in both the functions. Might be you opened the document yesterday but still not closed, that time it will show the yesterday's date.

Today() A call of the Today() function will now return the day when the document was opened.

But the Now() will take the current system date time. You can change the system date to last weeks date and check the result. It will show the last weeks date time only.

-Raghu.

[johnw]

I would format the date earlier than in the chart itself, either when putting the data into the QVD, loading the data from the QVD, or by going into document properties, number, setting the format for the field, and checkmarking Survive Reload.