Formatted Attribute Values

Formatted attribute values based on project region are used:

  • In the Debugger, when displaying and entering number and currency data.
  • For any number or currency values used when writing rules in Word or Excel (for example, constants, values used in comparisons), in default values on screen controls, and in maximum and minimum allowed values for non-Boolean attributes.
  • For number values, when adding values to a value list.
  • In an interview, when entering and displaying data (including in explanations). Note that you can override the individual system settings for a region. For more information, see Change the Formatting of Attribute Values In an Interview.
  • When displaying information in generated documents.

For example, if your region was set to the United States you would see attribute values formatted as specified in the table below.

Table 1. Formatted attribute value forms for the United States region
Attribute type Formatted value form for United States Example

Boolean

Yes/No/Unknown

Yes

Number

x (grouping separator, zero or more decimal places)

3

1,234.56

Number (unformatted)

x (no grouping separator, zero or more decimal places)

3

1234.56

Currency

$x.xx (two decimal places)

$123.00

Text

Any text

submarine

Date

MM-dd-yyyy

10/18/1974

Time of day

HH:mm:ss (24 hour clock)

15:21:45

Date and time

MM-dd-yyyy HH:mm:ss

10/18/1974 15:21:45

Other examples of how this formatting could apply are given in the table below.

Table 2. Examples of attribute formatting
Attribute type Data format specified by project region Example

Number

Region set to France, which includes the comma as the decimal separator

A Word rule conclusion setting a number attribute:

the threshold interest rate for savings accounts = 7,75

Currency

Region set to United Kingdom, which includes £ currency symbol, comma as thousand separator and full stop as decimal separator

The value for a currency attribute "the balance of the applicant's savings account" is set in an interview to:

£25,524.50

Text

Region set to Germany, which accepts any text formatting

The value of a text attribute "the person's name" is set in an interview to:

Karla

Date

Region set to Australia, which includes the date format DD/MM/YY

The value of a date attribute "the applicant's date of birth" is displayed in the Debugger Decision tab as:

25/10/90

Time of day

Region set to Brazil, which includes the time format hh:mm:ss

The value of a time attribute "the weekday closing time" is set in an interview to:

16:45

Date and time

Region set to Japan, which includes the date format YY/MM/DD and time format hh:mm:ss. Time zone set to 'Asia/Tokyo'.

The value of a datetime attribute "the application lodgment time" is set in an interview to:

09/07/29 10:15:30 JST

Tip: When using Analytics Publisher to Design an RTF Template for a Form, you can see the formatted and unformatted attribute values in the Extensible Markup Language (XML) sample data file. The formatted value is shown as the value in the attribute_value element. The unformatted value is shown as the value in the attribute element.