Date:         Wed, 9 Feb 2005 17:56:25 EST
Reply-To:     DKHGRMI@aol.com
Sender:       "SPSSX(r) Discussion" <SPSSX-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
From:         Dale Howe <DKHGRMI@aol.com>
Subject:      Re: MS-Access question
Comments: To: sxa6137@BJC.ORG
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"

In a message dated 2/9/2005 12:01:02 P.M. Eastern Standard Time,
sxa6137@BJC.ORG writes:

Hello  group!
Sorry for asking a non-spss related question. I am creating a  database
and I want to do some calculations using dates and times.
For  example:
I want Access to automatically calculateTotal Pump time when the  data
entry person enters Pump on time and Pump off time.

Can anyone  help me how to do that.

Once again sorry for asking NON-SPSS  question.
Thanks,
Shimy.



MS Access makes this really easy. Despite what you see displayed in Access
or Excel, what is stored is called a serial date. It is the number of days and
decimal fractions of a day since Jan 1, 1900. To test this, format (format
controls how you see it, not what is stored) a date as a number, noon on Jan 1,
 1900 would be 0.5 or half a day just as 12:00 pm would be, since times
without a  specified date are assumed to be on Jan 1, 1900.

Subtract one date from another or add a date to a time, and make sure you
format the result as a number. The result is pretty simple.

I would suggest you test some values in Excel. Quicker to play with and the
rules are the same once you switch to Access.

might want to do some web searches for details on the use of the DateDiff
function in Access. Not documented in all version of Access, but it seems to
work in all versions and does exactly what you are asking.

Luck!

Dale K. Howe, PhD
Rockford, MI