2019.2

Extracting dates
To extract data and have that data interpreted as a Date, set the type of the respective field to
Date:
1. Select the field in the data model.
2.
On the Step properties pane, under Field Definition, specify the Type as Date.
3. Make sure that the date in the data source is formatted in a way that matches the
expectations of the DataMapper. If the date doesn't match the format that the DataMapper
expects, it cannot be interpreted as a date. For example, if a date in the data source is
formatted as "yyyy-mm-dd" but the DataMapper expects a time as well, the date cannot be
read and the DataMapper will stop with an error.
The expected date format can be set in three places:
l In the user preferences ("DataMapper preferences" on page832).
l In the data source settings ("Data source settings" on page250).
l
In the field properties: on the Step properties pane, under Data Format, specify the
Date/Time Format.
4. For the letters and patterns that you can use in a date format, see "Defining a date/time
format" below.
Data format settings tell the DataMapper how to read and parse data from the data
source. They don't determine how these data are formatted in the Data Model or in a
template. In the Data Model, data are converted to the native data type. Dates, for
example, are converted to a DateTime object. How they are displayed in the Data Model
depends on the current operating system's regional settings..
Defining a date/time format
A date format is a mask representing the order and meaning of each digit in the raw data, as
well as the date/time separators. The mask uses several predefined markers to parse the
contents of the raw data. Here is a list of markers that are available in the DataMapper:
l
yy: Numeric representation of the Year when it is written out with only 2 digits (i.e. 13)
l
yyyy: Numeric representation of the Year when it is written out with 4 digits (i.e. 2013)
l
M: Short version of the month name (i.e. Jan, Aug). These values are based on the
current regional settings.
l
MM: Long version of the month name (i.e. January, August). These values are based on
the current regional settings.
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