Date and Time Field Formats

Date- and time-type data entry fields have special characteristics that are controlled both by their definition within the DCM and, in the case of dates, by the setting of DCM Layout and configuration settings.

Date- and time-type DCM questions have a characteristic that affects their physical appearance: the Date Time Format defined at DCM question definition time indicates, for dates, whether to display the complete day, month, and year portions of the date; just the month and year portions; or the year portion alone. For times, it indicates whether to display hours, minutes, and seconds, or just hours and minutes.

The Date Order formats used for the header information in Log-In are available for Data Entry fields. The Date Order format in effect is specified during definition of a DCM Layout. If dynamic is defined, the form uses the Date Order that controls date display in the header. The data displays in the appropriate Date Order format during entry or Browse mode at any location other than where it was entered.

Table 2-4 Date and Time Formats

Date Time Format	Display	Date Order Mask
DMY	12-31-1998 31-12-1998 1998-12-31 31-DEC-1998	US MM-DD-YYYY EUROPEAN DD-MM-YYYY SWEDISH YYYY-MM-DD STANDARD DD-MON-YYYY
MY	12-1998 1998-12 DEC-1998	US/EUROPEAN MM-YYYY SWEDISH YYYY-MM STANDARDMON-YYYY
Y	1998	All date formats
HMS	14:10:30	HH:MI:SS
HM	14:10	HH:MI

When entering the responses for date fields, you can either enter all four characters of the year, e.g., "1998", or you can simply enter the last two characters, e.g., "98". The system displays four characters in the field, whichever method you choose.

Note:

You must type all four digits to enter a date in a future year.

When assigning a century to years entered during Data Entry with only two digits, Oracle Clinical's default behavior is:

• Until January 1, 2000, Oracle Clinical will assume that all two-digit years entered are in the 1900s.

• In the 2000s, Oracle Clinical will compare the two-digit year entered with the current year's last two digits. If the year entered is less than or equal to the current year, Oracle Clinical will assume the year is in the 2000s. If it is greater than the current year, Oracle Clinical will assume it is in the 1900s.

You can override this default behavior by typing all four digits.