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Tei28204474v2l3
Known Participant
October 25, 2023
Question

Changing Duplicate Date Box Format

  • October 25, 2023
  • 1 reply
  • 2560 views

Hello, 

          I need assistance in changing the format of a copied date box. This would be similar to putting the = in another Excel cell and changing that cell's format. So, the main cell format is what is, but the second is different. My date text box name is DOB and the format for the date is yyyymmdd. I have another date box that has a custom script in it that changes the date to  yy mm dd but would like it to be mmm d, yyyy. May I ask for assistance in changing the custom script to fit this new format? 

 

Added the date box with the custom script named yy mm dd but looking to change to the name of mmm d yyyy. I am not sure if that matters or not. Thank you in advance. 

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    1 reply

    Thom Parker
    Thom Parker
    Community Expert
    October 26, 2023

    Open the properties dialog for the date field. 

    Select the Format tab.

    On the Format Category dropdown select "Date"

    Select "mmm dd, yyyy" from the list of formats. 

     

     

    Thom Parker - Software Developer at PDFScriptingUse the Acrobat JavaScript Reference early and often
    T
    Tei28204474v2l3Author
    Known Participant
    October 27, 2023

    I would do that but the box is copied from another one. Throughout my document the date is in different formats. This particular box has this scripted in it 

     

    var f = this.getField("DOB").valueAsString;
    var str = f.replace(/.{2}/g, '$& ');
    var sp = str.split(" ");
    var result = sp[1]+" "+sp[2]+" "+sp[3];
    if(f)event.value = result;
    else
    event.value = "";

     

     

    This takes the date form 20231026 to 23 20 26

    Thom Parker
    Thom Parker
    Community Expert
    October 27, 2023

    Is this a custom calculation script?

     

    The best way to convert date formats is to use the date functions, util.scand() and util.printd()

    Use util.scand() to convert the date text into a date object.

    Then use util.printd() to convert the date object into a formatted date string.

     

    You can read about them here:

    https://www.pdfscripting.com/public/Date-and-Time-Handling.cfm

    and here:

    https://acrobatusers.com/tutorials/date_time_part1/

     

    Thom Parker - Software Developer at PDFScriptingUse the Acrobat JavaScript Reference early and often
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