Microsoft Access VBA Macro Programming

A number of characters can be used to create a user-defined format

Date formats, like number formats, can use sections. One section only applies to all data;

two sections means that the first section applies to all data and the second to zero-length

strings and null. For examples, look at the following table:

Format String Definition

mm/dd/yy 01/03/03

dd-mmm-yyyy 01-Mar-2003

hh:mm a.m./p.m.

You can also use certain characters within your format string to create formatting, as

shown in Table 5-6.

Some examples of using theFormatfunction on numbers and strings are shown here:

MsgBox "This is " & Format(" 1000 ", "@@@,@@@")

MsgBox "This is " & Format(" 1000 ", "&&&,&&&")

MsgBox Format("richard", ">")

Date and Time Functions

A number of functions deal specifically with date and time. These are included in this

section.

Now

TheNowfunction returns the current date and time:

MsgBox Now

This displays the short date and time formats from the Windows Control Panel.

56 Microsoft Access 2010 VBA Macro Programming

Character Definition

@ Character placeholder. Displays a character or a space. If there is a character, it is

displayed; otherwise, a space is displayed.

& Character placeholder. Display a character or nothing. If there is a character, display it;

otherwise, display nothing.

< Force lowercase.

> Force uppercase.

! Force placeholders to fill from left to right.

Table 5-6 Additional Format Characters