Automatic item format conversions
When an item is assigned an output value, the map designer will automatically convert an item with the same interpretation (either number, text, date, or time) from one presentation to another.
For example, if you want to map an item that is a number and whose presentation is integer to an item that is also a number but whose presentation is decimal, the map designer will automatically convert it.
The map designer fills in missing information in date and time conversions in the following way:
- Dates with a year, but no century. The century will be determined using the CenturyDerivation map setting.
- Missing part of an output date format. If a portion
of the format of an output date cannot be derived from the input date, the
missing part will have pound characters (#) in its place. For example, if
09/98
is the date for an input with a format string of MM/YY and that date was mapped to an output date with a format of MM/DD/YY, the output date would be built as 09/##/98. - Missing part of an output time format. If a portion
of the format of an output time cannot be derived from the input time, the
missing part will have zeroes (0) in its place. For example, if
12:14
is the data for an input with a format string of HH12:MM and that time was mapped to an output time with a format of HH:MM:SS, the output date would be built as 12:14:00.
To convert a number to text, a date or time, or vice versa, you must use a function to perform the conversion. For example, to convert a date to text, use the function DATETOTEXT.