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you have training needs?
System
1032 Technical Note:
Using
2-digit years past 1999
By David Stone
The new century,
beginning with the year 2000, is expected to cause major headaches for
computer users accustomed to using 2-digit years in dates (for example,
02-10-97). Fortunately, System 1032 correctly stores dates past the year
1999. Date attributes are capable of storing dates from the year 1 to
the year 9999.
Dates are stored
as 4-digit years regardless of how the dates are input. This means that
even if your application accepts a date attribute formatted using a 2-digit
year (mm/dd/yy), the full 4-digit year is stored in the database (mm/dd/yyyy).
The issue for System
1032 is how to interpret 2-digit years beyond the end of the century.
To facilitate the use of 2-digit years beyond the year 1999, System 1032
V9.7 introduces a new system variable, $century_boundary. This variable
converts dates on input to the correct century.
The value of $century_boundary
is a 4-digit year such as 1935. This value is used to define the lowest
2-digit year that falls in a given century. The method is as follows:
- System 1032 breaks
the $century_boundary value into two parts: base_century and boundary_year.
For the year 1935, for example, base_century = 1900 and boundary_year
= 35.
- When you enter
a 2-digit year, System 1032 compares your input to boundary_year. If
the year you input is greater than or equal to boundary_ year, then
the year is in base_century. If the year input is less than boundary_year,
then the year is in the century after base_century.
For example, if $century_boundary
= 1935, then dates are interpreted as follows:
01/01/25 is January 1, 2025.
12/31/34 is December 31, 2034.
01/01/35 is January 1, 1935.
12/31/99 is December 31, 1999.
03/03/03 is March 3, 2003.
You choose an appropriate
boundary based on your application requirements.
When you install
System 1032 V9.7, $century_boundary is set to the start of the current
century. For example, if the current date is February 10, 1997, then $century_boundary
is the year 1900. Because of this setting, System 1032 will continue to
interpret 2-digit years as in previous releases. In the year 2000, the
value of $century_boundary will roll up to 2000.
Note that $century_boundary
evaluates only new date values input to System 1032; dates already stored
in System 1032 are not manipulated in any manner. In addition, because
$century_boundary evaluates only dates that are stored as attributes of
type date-time, you might need to manually adjust dates stored as attributes
of type integer.
To take full advantage
of the $century_boundary variable to interpret 2- digit years beyond the
end of the century, manually set the value of $century_boundary in either
the System 1032 systemwide initialization file or personal initialization
files. Choose the boundary based on your application requirements. See
the System 1032 User's Guide for more information on creating initialization
files.
Do
you have training needs?
CCA's Education
Services can help!
By Julie Phenicie
Can you relate to
any of these situations?
- Your department
has just taken over support of an existing Model 204 or System 1032
application.
- You have new employees
who need to be trained in Model 204 or System 1032.
- Your facility
is currently implementing a new release of System 1032 or Model 204.
- You want to enhance
career opportunities for existing employees through training.
If you have outstanding
training needs, CCA's Education Services can help. We offer a variety
of options to help you make the most of your training dollars.
Our goal is to help
your employees become more efficient in their use of Model 204 and System
1032. To facilitate this, we offer the following training options.
Education Center
For companies with
one or two employees to train, Education Center classes are a good option.
CCA has two education centers: one in the Corporate office in Framingham,
MA and one at the Federal office in McLean, VA. We offer a full range
of training courses open to the public and designed for the individuals
with either minimal or advanced experience. For a course catalog with
course listings and descriptions, contact Education Services.
Contract and Customized
Classes
If you have six or
more people to train, CCA will come to your site to offer training. You
gain in two ways: you lose less employee time away from work, and you
also save in travel costs. (You pay the course fees plus the instructor's
travel expenses.) An additional benefit of on-site training is that, upon
request, CCA can customize the training for your employees. You may request
an existing Education Center class and choose the specific topics applicable
to your employees.
Host classes
What if you have
a group of employees who need training, but not enough people to make
up the minimum for a contract on-site class?
Why not consider
hosting a class? If other customers in your geographical area have similar
training needs, you can partner with them to bring in one or more Model
204 or System 1032 classes. As a host site, you get one free slot if at
least eight people register and attend the training classes.
As you can see, CCA's
Education Services Department is available and ready to help you meet
your training needs with a variety of training options.
Call us today at
508-270-6666 to discuss which option is best for you.
