Pivot Dates and 8.19

[Deskin, Bob]

I thought the documentation was very specific that INPUT CENTURY is used for
input 
and then only on century included dates. It is also used by the CENTURY
function. We did not attempt a general "pivot date" for a number of reasons.
Among them, possibly destabilizing the product, the fact that it would not
have made code changes unnecessary, and it quite possibly would have been
confusing as to where it was applied.

Bob Deskin              
Senior Product Advisor  bob.deskin@cognos.com
Cognos Inc.             (613) 738-1338 ext 4205 FAX: (613) 228-3149
3755 Riverside Drive P.O. Box 9707 Stn. T, Ottawa ON K1G 4K9 CANADA


> ----------
> From: 	Tim Moe[SMTP:tim.moe@Covance.Com]
> Sent: 	Thursday, November 05, 1998 10:45 AM
> To: 	powerh-l@lists.swau.edu
> Subject: 	Pivot Dates and 8.19
> 
> I'm confused.
> 
> Pretty normal state of affairs, actually, but I was hoping someone
> could shed some light on this.
> 
> We got 8.19 recently, and I set about playing with the pivot date
> thingie in PDL.  It's not working the way I expect; to wit:
> 
> Q S H O W   (PowerHouse  8.19.C1)
> Copyright 1998 COGNOS INCORPORATED
> 
> 
> > show system
> 1998/10/28                    VXL Dictionary                      Page
>    1
>                          S Y S T E M   R E P O R T
>                            For DICTIONARY:  phd
> 
>     Dictionary Name:    VXL Dictionary
>     Dictionary Owner:   MGR.VXL
>     Created:            On 1998/10/28       By PDL   8.19.C
> 
>     -- Date Options --
>     Century Included?:  Yes                  Default Century:    19
>     Date Picture:       YYYY/MM/DD           Input Century 19 From 70
>     Nullseparator:  not specified            Allow Century:  not
> specified
> 
> Note the pivot date; (Input Century from 70).
> 
> I get the following results from some tests:
> 
> Q U I Z   (PowerHouse  8.19.C1)
> Copyright 1998 COGNOS INCORPORATED
> > use testfile
> > def date50 date century included =  500101
> > def date75 date =  750101
> > def systemdate date = sysdate
> > define cent-50 int*4 = century(500101)
> > define cent-75 int*4 = century(750101)
> > def cdate50 date = addcentury(500101)
> > def cdate75 date = addcentury(750101)
> > define force-50 date = addcentury(date50,century(date50))
> > define force-75 date = addcentury(date75,century(date75))
> > define current-century int*4 = century(sysdate)
> > define parm-date date century excluded = parm prompt "Testing ?"
> > rep systemdate current-century skip &
> >   parm-date skip &
> >   date50 cent-50 cdate50 force-50 skip &
> >   date75 cent-75 cdate75 force-75
> > go
> 
> Testing ?650101
> 
> 
> 1998/10/28                       VXL Dictionary                       
> PAGE   1
> 
>   SYSTEMDATE  CURRENT-CENTURY
> 
>    PARM-DATE
> 
>     DATE50    CENT-50    CDATE50    FORCE-50
> 
>     DATE75    CENT-75    CDATE75    FORCE-75
> 
>   1998/10/28          19
>   1965/01/01
>   1950/01/01      20   1950/01/01  2050/01/01
>   1975/01/01      19   1975/01/01  1975/01/01
> 
> Records selected:  0
> Lines printed:     9
> Pages printed:     1
> 
> I would have expected DATE-50 and the PARM-DATE to be in the 21st
> century, given the pivot date in the dictionary . . . but
> nooooooooooo.
> 
> Does the pivot year really _only_ work with the CENTURY function, or
> am I missing something?  The documentation isn't explicit but I have
> the expectation that DATE-50 and PARM-DATE in the above example should
> both be 21st century dates, not 20th century.  The fact the CENTURY
> function works OK indicates the dictionary seems to have been compiled
> in - any ideas?
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> Tim Moe
> tim.moe@covance.com
> 
> 
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