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[KingSparta]

The New Smart List Options Did Not Make It To The Help Files

Like:

Mid([Artist], 0, 1)\[Artist]

[marko]

Go to:

View files, schemes and libraries > View Files and Libraries > Customize List and/or Thumbnail View

There is a link to the database expressions page in the "columns to show" section.

I don't think there are any usage examples for expressions, nor any detail about their limitations and application in other areas of MC.

There's a link to this thread in the WELCOME ***FAQ*** sticky too.

[KingSparta]

there is another theard i started when matt put this in mc11

it would be nice if the samples would have hit the help file

as a matter of fact the sample above should be one of the built in rules

[marko]

it would be nice if the samples would have hit the help file

indeed it would.

[lise]

Hey KingSparta,

I tried your rule, and get to results (granted, I'm working with a very small 'test' database right now).

Can't find info on "Mid". What does the rule mean so that I can include it in the help file?
Any other rules missing that you can think of?

lise

[KingSparta]

Matt kind of changed it a bit in MC and i am not sure why, but the text below is much the same.

The text is from Microsofts visual basic's help file and can be found on the internet

Mid Function
Description

Returns a specified number of characters from a string.

Syntax

Mid(string,start[,length])

The Mid function syntax has these parts:

Part
 Description
 
string
 String expression from which characters are returned. If string contains no valid data, Null is returned.
 
start
 Character position in string at which the part to be taken begins. If start is greater than the number of characters in string, Mid returns a zero-length string.
 
length
 Number of characters to return. If omitted or if there are fewer than length characters in the text (including the character at start), all characters from the start position to the end of the string are returned.
 
Remarks

To determine the number of characters in string, use the Len function.

Note

Another function (MidB) is provided for use with the double-byte character sets (DBCS) used in some Asian locales. Instead of specifying the number of characters to return, length specifies the number of bytes. In areas where DBCS is not used, MidB behaves the same as Mid.

See Also

Left Function; Len Function; LTrim, RTrim, and Trim Functions; Mid Statement; Right Function.

Example

This example uses the Mid function to return a specified number of characters from a string.

MyString = "Mid Function Demo"    ' Create text string.
FirstWord = Mid(MyString, 1, 3)    ' Returns "Mid".
LastWord = Mid(MyString, 14, 4)    ' Returns "Demo".
MidWords = Mid(MyString, 5)    ' Returns "Function Demo".

[Matt]

Here:
http://www.jrmediacenter.com/DevZone/DBExpressions.htm

[JimH]

Hi Lise,
The Help file could just link to that page.

Jim

[KingSparta]

yes, that looks like it is full of good info.

[marko]

As I mentioned above, there is already a link to that page in there. I found it there by searching the for expression.
I think that Database expressions should get their own little chapter in the help file, where a little of what is possible, and areas of the program where they are permitted (or not, whatever's easier) plus a link to the devzone page can be shown.

You can do so much more with expressions than simply using them to add a filelist column

The formatdate info on the devzone page is out of date:

FormatDate(...): Formats a date value in a specified manner.

Value: the date to format
Formatting: formatting style

Year: 1997
Month: March
Day: 12
Filename: 20040521-032221
Elapsed: 3.2 days ago
Other: flexible formatting (i.e. MMMM-d)

No Date Output: the output when the date is empty (optional: defaults to nothing)

Examples:
FormatDate([Date Imported], elapsed)
FormatDate([Date], MMMM: d, no date)