Difference between two dates

[rodgerMae]

I am using this script in the calculate field event: can anybody assist?

var dateFirst=StartDate1.formattedValue;

var dateSecond=Date1.formattedValue;

var timeDiff = Math.abs(dateSecond.getTime() - dateFirst.getTime());

var diffDays = Math.ceil(timeDiff / (1000 * 3600 * 24));

Totaldays1=diffDays;

by all accounts this should work right?

[Bernd Alheit]

What is formattedValue? I have never seen this.

[try67]

Also, that's not how you access the value of a field, assuming this is an Acrobat form.

[rodgerMae]

Ok, How do i access field values in acrobat DC? and would having to cast the field value to toString() work?

startDate1.toString();

[Bernd Alheit]

What are the field names?

[try67]

If the field is called "StartDate1" then you access its value like this:

this.getField("StartDate1").valueAsString

Note that JavaScript is case-sensitive, so if the field is actually named "startDate1" the code above won't work.

[try67]

And to apply the result to the calculating field change the last line to:

event.value = diffDays;

[rodgerMae]

I have adjusted the code but still Not working:

var dateFirst=this.getField(StartDate1);

var dateSecond=this.getField(endDate1);

var timeDiff=Math.abs(dateSecond.getTime()-dateFirst.getTime());

var diffDays=Math.ceil(timeDiff /(1000 * 3600 * 24));

this.Totaldays1=diffDays;

StartDate1,endDate1 and Totaldays1 are the fields in the form....perhaps i am failing to assign the value i suppose

the rest are just varibale to hold dats for the calculation.:

[try67]

You did not adjust it correctly. Study the example I gave carefully.

[Bernd Alheit]

Press ctrl+j and look for errors in the debugger.

[rodgerMae]

full code runs with no errors perhaps my assignment and accessing the fields might be the problem.

var dateFirst=this.getField("StartDate1").valueAsString;

var dateSecond=this.getField("endDate1").valueAsString;

var timeDiff=Math.abs(dateSecond.getTime()-dateFirst.getTime());

var diffDays=Math.ceil(timeDiff /(1000 * 3600 * 24));

this.Totaldays1=diffDays;

[Test Screen Name]

Please read reply #6 again, as it tells you exactly what is wrong with your last line.

[rodgerMae]

var dateFirst=this.getField("StartDate1").valueAsString;

var dateSecond=this.getField("endDate1").valueAsString;

var timeDiff=Math.abs(dateSecond.getTime()-dateFirst.getTime());

var diffDays=Math.ceil(timeDiff /(1000 * 3600 * 24));

event.value = diffDays;

//please note i am doing this in properties calculated field tab in Totaldays1's field under custom calculation script maybe the approach is wrong

[Bernd Alheit]

Read reply #12.

[try67]

Beside the last line, which you didn't change, there's another issue. You're treating the dateFirst and dateSecond variables as if they're Date objects. They're not. They just strings. You need to first convert them to Date objects (using util.scand) and then you'll be able to use the getTime method on them.

[gkaiseril]

You code if using FormCalc and that script only works in forms created using LiveCycle.

[gkaiseril · Accepted solution]

You can use the following script to compute the difference in days. You may need to adjust the date string format and field names to match your form.

// start document level functions;

function GetField(oDoc, cField){

var oField = oDoc.getField(cField); // get field object for named field in specified PDF doc;

if(oField == null){

// trap and report error;

app.alert("Field " + cField + " not found.\nCheck for existance of field.", 1, 0, "Field Access Error");

}

return oField; // return field object;

}

function Scand(cFormat, cDateTime){

var oDate = util.scand(cFormat, cDateTime); // convert date string to date object using format;

if(oDate == null){

// trap and report conversion error;

app.alert("Error converting " + cDateTime + " using format " + cFormat, 1, 0, "Date/Time Conversion Error");

}

return oDate;

}

function Date2Days(cFormat, cDateTime){

var nDays = null;

var oDate = Scand(cFormat, cDateTime); // convert to date object;

if(oDate != null){

oDate.setHours(0, 0, 0, 0); // set to midnight;

nDays = Math.floor((oDate.getTime() / (1000 * 60 * 60 * 24))); // convert to whole days;

}

return nDays;

}

// end document level functions;

var nDiffDays = "";

var cDateFormat = "d-mmm-yyyy"; // change as needed to match date field format;

var oStart = GetField(this, "StartDate"); // field for start date;

var oEnd = GetField(this, "endDate"); // field for end date;

if(oStart != null && oStart.value != "" && oEnd != null && oEnd.value != ""){

// compute difference in days;

nDiffDays = Date2Days(cDateFormat, oEnd.value) - Date2Days(cDateFormat, oStart.value);

}

event.value = nDiffDays; // set field value;

The functions are used to minimize the amount of repeated code. The functions also include error reporting and trapping to help you in your debugging if needed. FormCalc includes some similar functions as built-in functions, but with Acrobat JavaScript one has to provide the code to do the job of the built-in functions.