Formatting numbers

We have one database that they are constantly reformatting their
inputs.
I asked about the changes and they can never get the same types of
numbers from the people.

some are -.95 and later they might get -.9 while some have been
collected in the past as 19.9 later the same data comes to them as
19.99

At first they were wanting us to format the fields so they could not
input the wrong numbers but now this has become impossible.

I was wondering if we could do something like ###.###
they assured me that no number would be over 80 and no negative
numbers would be less than 60. as well as nothing with more than 3
significant digits.

I tried it and in this format if they type 6.6 they get 6.6 and
assured them that they are not required to fill in like having to type
0.600

before putting this out I wanted to ask am I correct in doing this?
thanks for help this got to be a mess real quick since they are
collecting over 100 values for each person.

Re: Formatting numbers

On Nov 26, 1:03 pm, sparks wrote:
> We have one database that they are constantly reformatting their
> inputs.
> I asked about the changes and they can never get the same types of
> numbers from the people.
>
> some are -.95 and later they might get -.9 while some have been
> collected in the past as 19.9 later the same data comes to them as
> 19.99
>
> At first they were wanting us to format the fields so they could not
> input the wrong numbers but now this has become impossible.
>
> I was wondering if we could do something like ###.###
> they assured me that no number would be over 80 and no negative
> numbers would be less than 60. as well as nothing with more than 3
> significant digits.
>
> I tried it and in this format if they type 6.6 they get 6.6 and
> assured them that they are not required to fill in like having to type
> 0.600
>
> before putting this out I wanted to ask am I correct in doing this?
> thanks for help this got to be a mess real quick since they are
> collecting over 100 values for each person.

I don't follow what these numbers mean or how they are used, but as
far as formatting goes... Formatting affects only how numbers are
displayed, not the underlying storage. Storage (in a table) is
determined by the type of number (long, double, etc.) you establish in
the column definition. By the same token, the column definition
determines how input is stored, not the format applied to a form
control.

If display is important, check out F1 on "user defined number
formats". In your example above if people prefer to see .6 as 0.600
the format would be "0.000", but again, this does nothing to change
how the number is actually stored in your database.

Hope I didn't go round-and-round too much.

Re: Formatting numbers

Yes they are paranoid that if they get a number that is 19.90 and they
see 19.9 ....hey wait that is NOT what I entered.
Then they get a number like 19.995....and see 19.99 where is the 5
aHHHHHHH

lol

I am just glad its not 000.004


On Mon, 26 Nov 2007 15:31:40 -0800 (PST), Smartin
wrote:

>On Nov 26, 1:03 pm, sparks wrote:
>> We have one database that they are constantly reformatting their
>> inputs.
>> I asked about the changes and they can never get the same types of
>> numbers from the people.
>>
>> some are -.95 and later they might get -.9 while some have been
>> collected in the past as 19.9 later the same data comes to them as
>> 19.99
>>
>> At first they were wanting us to format the fields so they could not
>> input the wrong numbers but now this has become impossible.
>>
>> I was wondering if we could do something like ###.###
>> they assured me that no number would be over 80 and no negative
>> numbers would be less than 60. as well as nothing with more than 3
>> significant digits.
>>
>> I tried it and in this format if they type 6.6 they get 6.6 and
>> assured them that they are not required to fill in like having to type
>> 0.600
>>
>> before putting this out I wanted to ask am I correct in doing this?
>> thanks for help this got to be a mess real quick since they are
>> collecting over 100 values for each person.
>
>I don't follow what these numbers mean or how they are used, but as
>far as formatting goes... Formatting affects only how numbers are
>displayed, not the underlying storage. Storage (in a table) is
>determined by the type of number (long, double, etc.) you establish in
>the column definition. By the same token, the column definition
>determines how input is stored, not the format applied to a form
>control.
>
>If display is important, check out F1 on "user defined number
>formats". In your example above if people prefer to see .6 as 0.600
>the format would be "0.000", but again, this does nothing to change
>how the number is actually stored in your database.
>
>Hope I didn't go round-and-round too much.

Re: Formatting numbers

On Tue, 27 Nov 2007 12:58:49 GMT, sparks wrote:

>Yes they are paranoid that if they get a number that is 19.90 and they
>see 19.9 ....hey wait that is NOT what I entered.
>Then they get a number like 19.995....and see 19.99 where is the 5
>aHHHHHHH
>
And if 'they' enter 19.9 an see 19.900 does that also bother them?

Chuck
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