The dttofmtasc() function

Syntax

mint dttofmtasc(dtvalue, outbuf, buflen, fmtstring)
   dtime_t *dtvalue;
   char *outbuf;
   mint buflen;
   char *fmtstring;

dtvalue

A pointer to an initialized datetime variable.

outbuf

A pointer to a buffer to contain the string for the value in dtvalue.

buflen

The length of the outbuf buffer.

fmtstring

is a pointer to a buffer that contains the formatting mask to use for the outbuf string. This time-formatting mask contains the same formatting directives that the DBTIME environment variable supports. (For a list of these directives, see the description of DBTIME in the Informix® Guide to SQL: Reference.)

Usage

You must initialize the datetime variable in dtvalue with the qualifier that you want the character string to have. If you do not initialize the datetime variable, the function returns an unpredictable value. The character string in outbuf does not include the qualifier or the parentheses that SQL statements use to delimit a DATETIME literal.

The formatting mask, fmtstring, does not need to imply the same qualifiers as the datetime variable. When the implied formatting-mask qualifier is different from the datetime qualifier, dttofmtasc() extends the datetime value (as if it called the dtextend() function).

When you use a two-digit year (%y) in a formatting mask, the dttofmtasc() function uses the value of the DBCENTURY environment variable to determine which century to use. If you do not set DBCENTURY, dttofmtasc() uses the present century for two-digit years. For information about how to set DBCENTURY, see the Informix® Guide to SQL: Reference.

When you use a nondefault locale (one other than U.S. English) and do not set the DBTIME or GL_DATETIME environment variables, dttofmtasc() uses the default DATETIME format that the client locale defines. For more information, see the Informix® GLS User's Guide.

Return values

0

The conversion was successful.

<0

The conversion failed. Check the text of the error message.