PD "One-Touch" Date, Time, and Scheduling Tools 

 PD Date Tools provides "1-Step" global date handling plus several internationalized classes and templates. 

  • Internationalized Date Handling Functions
  • Calendars (popup, drop list, and list controls)
  • Time (duration functions and drop controls)
  • Scheduling
  • Appointments.  

Source Code.  Source code is provided for all classes except for the internationalized date handling functions.  This includes a Scrolling Date Class, Calendaring Base Class, Calendar List Class, Drop Calendar Class, Popup Calendar Class, and a Thread Manager Class for the threaded popup calendar.

 

Popup Button and Calendar

Popup calendar buttons are automatically created at run time buy simply adding the global extension (population may be overridden) - a great time saver.  The popup calendar itself displays immediately below or above the entry depending on available space making it clear to the user what date is being entered.  All calendars, whether popup or calendar controls populated on a window share common features:

  • Display of the first day of the week according the user's settings.
  • Display of the week of the year according the user's settings.
  • Auto translation of abbreviated month and day names using registry information.
  • Over 30 alerted navigation keys including Quicken keys. 
  • Display of holidays and schedule days if these have been set up.  US holidays display by default but may be hidden.
  • A context sensitive popup menu giving access to some of the advanced functions.
  • A Jump To window for advancing or going back a specified number of periods of various types.
  • Range limiting established locally or in the dictionary user options.
  • Disabling or hiding the entry disables and hides the button at the same time.
  • Drag and drop from the calendar to any other date entry.
  • Tool tips showing the day, day of year, week of year, scheduled items, and holiday names.
  • A translation file allows you to control colors and icons used by the calendars.

A Threaded popup may also be populated as a control template or a drop calendar populated instead of the popup calendar.

 

Calendar Context Popup Menu

All list based calendars have a context sensitive popup menu making basic functions available to end users.  Some of these duplicate the over 30 built-in alert keys such as the Quicken keys for going to today's date, scrolling to the end of the week, or changing to the beginning or end of the year, and more.

Go To Jump Window

The "Go To" or "Jump To:" window associated with each calendar allows user to jump forward or back an number of specified periods whether its 10 business days or 30 weeks, months, or years.
 

List Calendar Control Template

Use the list control template to put a calendar on any window.  Give it whatever functionality you like.  Let the Class library handle Scheduled Dates and Holidays.  Drag and Drop dates to any date entry in the application. The list control also allows you to add other scroll buttons such as scroll by year.

You may populate more than one list control on a window and interlink their functionality.  Among other things, you could design your own popup calendar if you don't like what is provided.

The List Control has the same common features found in the popup calendar.

 

Drop Calendar

Auto populating drop button calendars for every date entry is an alternative option at the global and procedure level.  Disable the date entry and the button will be disabled at the same time.  Right click the calendar and get a easily jump ahead 50 business days or back to the beginning of the year.   Press HOME and get back to the original date or "T" to go to Today's date.  Both the calendar and entry will have entry specific range limits. 

The drop lists are created at run time as well as the calendar button.

Other Features

  
pddt.gif (60986 bytes) Date Functions. In addition to the scrolling date functions, ProDomus Date Tools will calculate the week of the year according to local calculation rules, day of the week, days left in the year, business days, holidays, and days between dates based on a 30 day month
  Date Rules. Rules for date calculations vary from country to country -- the US standard of Sunday being the first day of the week and the first week of the year being the one in which January 1 appears does not apply in most other countries. Date Class functions for calculating the Week Of The Year or the Day Of The Week recognize these rules.
  True or False Date Functions. Is it a holiday? Code is provided for calculating US holidays. This function or any function similarly prototyped may be passed to business day functions to determine whether a date is a business day and the number of elapsed business days between dates. PD Date tools also provide functions for determining whether it is a leap year, valid date, or week day.
  Recurring Date. A special True or False function determines whether a date B is a recurring instance of date A: weekly, every two weeks, every half month, monthly, the same day of the month, every two months, and more, recurring sets of the week, and more.
  Time Zone Information. 32-bit applications may retrieve local names for Standard and Daylight Savings time, the UTC (Universal Time) bias, the date and time of transitions, and the user's current set up. Getting this information required breaking the UNICODE barrier.
 

Month-Day-Year Class and Control Template

  • Month, Day, and Year Drop Range Limited Lists
  • Internationalized Month Listing
  • Next and Previous Buttons

 

Advanced Schedule Add On  

Appointment Class and Control Template

The appointment control template and class creates a daily appointment schedule in a browse format.  Scheduled items may having starting and ending dates and times and well as recurrence built into the schedule class library.  Visual indication of items durations display in the form of brackets down the left side of the browse.  The browse may use range limits and filters as needed.  Date entry may use control templates provided or designed by the developer.  Following is al list of some of the appointment class and template features.

  • "Duration Brackets" display of appointments durations.
  • Handles recurring, all-day, and multi-day events saved to a single record.
  • Template population closely follows standard browse population.
  • Supports Colors, Icons, and Cell Styles (individual cell fonts and colors)
  • Supports ABC templates only)

 

Recurrence Control Template

The recurrence control template adds From entries for setting the recurrence of a date.