Recurring Dates Script

[Sarah Reichelt]

Hi Jim,

Coincidentally, I needed exactly the same sort of thing myself last 
week, so here is a script to get you started:

Here are some usage examples:

put relativeDate("Mon", 3, 1, 2004)
  -- 3rd Monday in January 2004

put relativeDate("Fri", -1, 2, 2004)
  -- last Friday in February 2004

put relativeDate("Tue", "First",  11,  2004)
  -- 1st Tuesday in November - for the Aussies out there :-)


-- pDay is the abbreviated system day name (Mon, Tue, Wed)
-- pIndex is First, Second, Third, Fourth, Last
-- or 1, 2, 3, 4 for 1st, 2nd, 3rd & 4th and -1 for last
-- pMonth & pYear must be numeric
--
function relativeDate pDay, pIndex, pMonth, pYear
   -- convert the day name to a number
   put the abbrev system weekDayNames into tDayList
   get lineOffset(pDay, tDayList)
   if it = 0 then return empty
   put it into tDayNum

   -- find first whatever day in the month
   put pMonth & "/1/" & pYear into firstDate
   convert firstDate from short English date to dateItems
   put last item of firstDate into firstDayNum
   put tDayNum - firstDayNum into dayDiff
   if dayDiff < 0 then add 7 to dayDiff
   add dayDiff to item 3 of firstDate
   convert firstDate to seconds
   convert firstDate to dateItems

   -- add weeks as necessary
   switch pIndex
   case "First"
   case "1"
     break
   case "Second"
   case "2"
     add 7 to item 3 of firstDate
     break
   case "Third"
   case "3"
     add 14 to item 3 of firstDate
     break
   case "Fourth"
   case "4"
     add 21 to item 3 of firstDate
     break
   case "Fifth"
   case "5"
     add 28 to item 3 of firstDate
     break
   case "Last"
   case "-1"
     -- try week 5 and if that doesn't work, use week 4
     put firstDate into testDate
     add 28 to item 3 of testDate
     convert testDate to seconds
     convert testDate to dateItems
     if item 2 of testDate = pMonth then
       put testDate into firstDate
     else
       add 21 to item 3 of firstDate
     end if
     break
   end switch

   -- firstDate is now in dateItems format
   convert firstDate to short system date
   return firstDate
end relativeDate


Cheers,
Sarah
sarahr at genesearch.com.au
http://www.troz.net/Rev/

On 12 Jan 2004, at 1:04 pm, Jim Carwardine wrote:

> Thanks, Sarah.  I'm familiar with dateItems from HC.  Even with 
> dateItems,
> checking on things like the second Tuesday of every month is tricky.  
> I was
> hoping that somebody might have done some of that... Jim
>
> on 1/11/04 6:21 PM, Sarah Reichelt wrote:
>
>> Hi Jim,
>>
>> I don't know exactly what sort of recurring dates you are planning, 
>> but
>> you will find that using the dateItems format works really well for
>> date calculations:
>>
>> Try something like this:
>> put the seconds into theDate
>> convert theDate to dateItems
>> -- 2004,1,12,8,16,46,2
>> -- see the docs for dateItems to check what each item is.
>>
>> Now you can edit any of these items WITHOUT having to worry about
>> whether it results in a correct date. When you convert it back, the
>> engine will make it into a real date.
>>
>> add 18 to item 2 of theDate      -- item 2 = month, so move 18 months
>> forward
>> -- 2004,19,12,8,18,26,2
>> convert theDate to long date
>> -- Tuesday, July 12, 2005
>>
>> Hope this helps,
>> Sarah
>>
>> On 12 Jan 2004, at 1:59 am, Jim Carwardine wrote:
>>
>>> Has anyone written a script that handles recurring dates like Outlook
>>> or
>>> Entourage do?  Jim
>>> -- 
>>>
>>> OYF is... Highly resourceful people working together.
>>> <http://www.OwnYourFuture-net.com>
>>>
>>> Own Your Future Consulting Services Limited,
>>> 1959 Upper Water Street, Suite 407, Halifax, Nova Scotia. B3J 3N2
>>> Info Line: 902-823-2477, Phone: 902-823-2339. Fax: 902-823-2139
>>>
>>>
>>>
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>>
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>
> -- 
>
> OYF is... Highly resourceful people working together.
> <http://www.OwnYourFuture-net.com>
>
> Own Your Future Consulting Services Limited,
> 1959 Upper Water Street, Suite 407, Halifax, Nova Scotia. B3J 3N2
> Info Line: 902-823-2477, Phone: 902-823-2339. Fax: 902-823-2139
>
>
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