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Crystal Reports CDate Error

I am using Crystal 9. I have the following formula:
CDATE(mid({Military_calls.Code},6,2)+"/"+mid({Military_calls.Code},8,2)+"/"+mid({Military_calls.Code},10,2))

The code that it is using is AVAIL07307NR. When it gets an error because it cannot convert this information to a date, it will not return any information back to the report. How can I put some kind of "IF" statement around this to say that if there is an error, just return a blank date to the report, but keep processing?

Kurt Reinhardt

So, basically this is a problem with your data not being in the expected format? If the data isn't in the expected format is it in some other format consistently (for example, you only have five numeric values above when your formula expected six)? If so, might be easier to capture the errors.

While I can see the need to report around the errors, my preferred approach--personally--would be to scrub the existing data and correct the data capture/input methodology. I believe in the GIGO philosophy in regards to reporting, Garbage In - Garbage Out... It's much more efficient and more easily maintainable to write to the norm than it is to write to the exception.

~Kurt

cswebdev

ASKER

Unfortunately, I don't have any control over the input. This is entered by users outside of my area, and there is no consistent way that they enter the data. That's why I need some way of knowing that the information can't be converted to a data and returning a blank string instead.

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Kurt Reinhardt

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cswebdev

ASKER

No, there is no consistent length for the entire field.

SOLUTION