toString

Function: toString()

Converts a value into a string.

Returns NULL if value is NULL.

Syntax

toString(value, dateFormat)

ArgumentTypeDescription
valueAnyValue to be converted.
dateFormatStringAn optional parameter which is a date format pattern. CenterView will check if the value parameter is a date or can be converted to a date. If the value parameter cannot be converted to a date then an error will be thrown.

If this parameter is not used and a date object is passed into the value parameter, CenterView will use the default format of "yyyyMMdd.HHmmss"

Examples

toString(in.value)

Returns the string "14462" where the attribute in.value contains a value 14462.

toString(_fromDate,"dd MMMM yyyy, HH:mm:ss")

Returns the string "03 September 2010, 13:04:07" where _fromDate contains a value of "20100903.130407".

toString(_fromDate,"yyyy-MM-dd HH-mm-ss")

Returns the string "2010-09-03 13-04-07" where _fromDate contains a value of "20100903.130407".

toString(_fromDate,"dd M yyyy")

Returns the string "19 9 2010" where _fromDate contains a value of "20100919.120000".

toString(_fromDate,"dd MMM yyyy")

Returns the string "19 NOV 2010" where _fromDate contains a value of "20101119.120000".

toString(_fromDate,"dd MMM YYYY hh mm ss")

Returns the string "19 NOV 2010 12 00 00" where _fromDate contains a value of "20101119.120000".

toString(_fromDate,"dd MMM YYYY h m s")

Returns the string "19 NOV 2010 12 0 0" where _fromDate contains a value of "20101119.120000".

toString(_fromDate,"d MMM YY h m s")

Returns the string "19 NOV 10 12 0 0" where _fromDate contains a value of "20101119.120000".

toString(_fromDate,"d M Y h m s")

Returns the string "19 11 2010 12 0 0" where _fromDate contains a value of "20101119.120000".

toString(_fromDate,"G")

Returns the era of the date. This is the string "AD" where _fromDate contains a value of "20090324.150507".

toString(_fromDate,"C")

Returns the century of era of the date. This is the string "20" where _fromDate contains a value of "20090324.150507".

toString(_fromDate,"w")

Returns the week in year of the date. This is the string "13" where _fromDate contains a value of "20090324.150507".

toString(_fromDate,"e")

Returns the day of week of the date as a number. This is the string "2", for Tuesday, where _fromDate contains a value of "20090324.150507".

toString(_fromDate,"E")

Returns the first three characters of the day of week of the date. This is the string "Tue" where _fromDate contains a value of "20090324.150507".

toString(_fromDate,"EEEE")

Returns all the characters of the day of week of the date. This is the string "Tuesday" where _fromDate contains a value of "20090324.150507".

toString(_fromDate,"y")

Returns the year of the date. This is the string "2009" where _fromDate contains a value of "20090324.150507".

toString(_fromDate,"yy")

Returns the last two characters of the year of the date. This is the string "09" where _fromDate contains a value of "20090324.150507".

toString(_fromDate,"yyyy")

Returns all the characters of the year of the date. This is the string "2009" where _fromDate contains a value of "20090324.150507".

toString(_fromDate,"Y")

Returns the year of era of the date. This year of era is always greater than or equal to zero. This is the string "2009" where _fromDate contains a value of "20090324.150507".

toString(_fromDate,"YY")

Returns the last two digits of the year of era of the date. This year of era is always greater than or equal to zero. This is the string "09" where _fromDate contains a value of "20090324.150507".

toString(_fromDate,"YYYY")

Returns the year of era of the date. This year of era is always greater than or equal to zero. This is the string "2009" where _fromDate contains a value of "20090324.150507".

toString(_fromDate,"D")

Returns day of year of the date. This is the string "83" where _fromDate contains a value of "20090324.150507".

toString(_fromDate,"MMM")

Returns the first three characters of the month of the date. This is the string "MAR" where _fromDate contains a value of "20090324.150507".

toString(_fromDate,"MMMM")

Returns all the characters of the month of the date. This is the string "March" where _fromDate contains a value of "20090324.150507".

toString(_fromDate,"M")

Returns the month of the date in the number format. This is the string "3" where _fromDate contains a value of "20090324.150507".

toString(_fromDate,"d")

Returns the single digit format of the day of month of the date. This is the string "8" where _fromDate contains a value of "20090308.150507".

toString(_fromDate,"dd")

Returns the two digit format of the day of month of the date. This is the string "24" where _fromDate contains a value of "20090324.150507".

toString(_fromDate,"a")

Returns the halfday (AM/PM) of the date and time. This is the string "PM" where _fromDate contains a value of "20090324.150507".

toString(_fromDate,"K")

Returns the single digit format of the hour of the halfday (0~11) of the date and time. This is the string "3" where _fromDate contains a value of "20090324.150507".

toString(_fromDate,"KK")

Returns the two digit format of the hour of the halfday (0~11) of the date and time. This is the string "03" where _fromDate contains a value of "20090324.150507".

toString(_fromDate,"h")

Returns the single digit format of the clockhour of the halfday (1~12) of the date and time. This is the string "3" where _fromDate contains a value of "20090324.150507".

toString(_fromDate,"hh")

Returns the two digit format of the clockhour of the halfday(1~12) of the date and time. This is the string "03" where _fromDate contains a value of "20090324.150507".

toString(_fromDate,"H")

Returns the single digit format of the hour of the day (0~23) of the date and time. This is the string "6" where _fromDate contains a value of "20090324.060507".

toString(_fromDate,"HH")

Returns the two digit format of the hour of the day (0~23) of the date and time. This is the string "15" where _fromDate contains a value of "20090324.150507".

toString(_fromDate,"k")

Returns the single digit format of the clockhour of the day (1~24) of the date and time. This is the string "9" where _fromDate contains a value of "20090324.090507".

toString(_fromDate,"kk")

Returns the two digit format of the clockhour of the day (1~24) of the date and time. This is the string "09" where _fromDate contains a value of "20090324.090507".

toString(_fromDate,"m")

Returns the single digit format of the minutes of the date and time. This is the string "5" where _fromDate contains a value of "20090324.150507".

toString(_fromDate,"mm")

Returns the two digit format of minutes of the date and time. This is the string "05" where _fromDate contains a value of "20090324.150507".

toString(_fromDate,"s")

Returns the single digit format of seconds of the date and time. This is the string "7" where _fromDate contains a value of "20090324.150507".

toString(_fromDate,"ss")

Returns the two digit format of seconds of the date and time. This is the string "07" where _fromDate contains a value of "20090324.150507".

toString(_fromDate,"z")

Returns the time zone of the date. This is the string "GMT" for a UK date.

toString(_fromDate,"Z")

Returns the time zone offset/id of the date. This is the string "+0000" for a UK date.

Date Format Pattern

The following values are available for use in dateFormat patterns:

SymbolMeaningPresentationExamples
GeratextAD
Ccentury of era (>=0)number20
Yyear of era (>=0)year1996
YYyear of era (>=0)year96
YYYYyear of era (>=0)year1996
xweekyearyear1996
wweek of weekyearnumber27
eday of weeknumber2
Eday of weektextTue
EEEEday of weektextTuesday
yyearyear1996
yyyearyear96
yyyyyearyear1996
Dday of yearnumber189
Mmonth of yearmonth7
MMmonth of yearmonth07
MMMmonth of yearmonthJUL
MMMMmonth of yearmonthJULY
dday of monthnumber5
ddday of monthnumber05
ahalfday of daytextPM
Khour of halfday (0~11)number3
KKhour of halfday (0~11)number03
hclockhour of halfday (1~12)number5
hhclockhour of halfday (1~12)number05
Hhour of day (0~23)number6
HHhour of day (0~23)number06
kclockhour of day (1~24)number9
kkclockhour of day (1~24)number09
mminute of hournumber5
mmminute of hournumber05
ssecond of minutenumber7
sssecond of minutenumber07
Sfraction of secondnumber978
ztime zonetextPacific Standard Time; PST
Ztime zone offset/idzone-0800; -08:00; America/Los_Angeles
'escape for textdelimiter 
''single quoteliteral'

The number of letters used in the pattern determines the format.

  • Text: If the number of pattern letters is 4 or more, the full form is used; otherwise a short or abbreviated form is used if available.
  • Number: The minimum number of digits. Shorter numbers are zero-padded to this amount.
  • Year: Numeric presentation for year and weekyear fields are handled specially. For example, if the count of 'y' is 2, the year will be displayed as the zero-based year of the century, which is two digits.
  • Month: 3 or over, use text, otherwise use number.
  • Zone: 'Z' outputs offset without a colon, 'ZZ' outputs the offset with a colon, 'ZZZ' or more outputs the zone id.
  • Zone names: Time zone names ('z') cannot be parsed.
  • Any characters in the pattern that are not in the ranges of ['a'..'z'] and ['A'..'Z'] will be treated as quoted text. For instance, characters like ':', '.', ' ', '#' and '?' will appear in the resulting time text even they are not embraced within single quotes.

See Also