Hi.

A string is not a date. You can either use a String attribute to store everything and convert Date when possible; or use a secondary attribute to store String when field Date is Null.

Hi Nuno,

Thanks for your quick concern. Just decoding your answer.

1. We can convert values from String to Date only if they are in valid format. Right?

For example - "12-05-2012" is inserted and then can be converted to Date format.

But, what if values like "IN PROGRESS" are inserted. Such values cannot be certainly converted to Date. In this case I should go for the second option.

Am I correct?

Thanks and regards,
Nikhil Shravage

I'll explain myself better:

1. You can use a String attribute and an if to show as Date or as String (data conversion functions TextToDateValidate() and TextToDate() )

if TextToDateValidate(attribute)
  Show TextToDate(attribute)
Else
  Show attribute


Case 2.
using two separate fields, date attribute and string attribute. When the value is not a Date, save value into String attribute and a Null Date . If is a Date, save into Date attribute and a Null String.

if dateattribute=NullDate()
  Show stringattribute
else
  Show dateattribute


Is it understandable like this?

Yes. Thank you so much for your prompt reply.

Cheers!
Nikhil Shravage.