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Date and time control

The Datetime control stores a calendar date and time. The user can type it or pick it from the calendar, and the value is stored in a format the engine can compare.

What it offers

  • A calendar that opens from the field, with a control that clears the value.
  • A mask that formats the value while it is typed, so the same date is not written two different ways.
  • Month and day names translated to the interface language.

The stored value

The value is stored as a date and time, not as the text the user saw. That matters for conditions: comparing two datetime fields works because both sides are dates.

@#DueDate < @#RequestDate

Comparing a datetime with a string built by hand usually does not, because the string keeps whatever format it was typed in.

Masks

The mask depends on the language of the interface. A form built in one language and used in another shows the mask of the language the user is running, which is why a date that looks valid in the editor can look different in a case.

In a case

  • Clearing the field does not restore a default.
  • A cleared datetime is empty, not "now": any condition that reads it sees an empty value.
  • A required datetime blocks the form until it has a value.