Q&A in Y2K

Q&A in Y2K!

Internal research at PFP Software on Q&A 5.01 for DOS (German Version) has brought up the following points regarding the year 2000 problem with Q&A:

	Q&A stores date and time values internally in the following format: "yyyy/mm/dd".
	*The date arithmetic of the programming language works correctly after 1999.*
	The input of dates into forms works as expected if not one of the "short" date formats are chosen. If a user enters "01.01.02", Q&A will always take this date as the first of January 1902. If a user enters "01.01.2002" and the field format is one of the "long" date fields, then it will work as expected.
	When text fields are converted into date fields, the user have to make sure that the text fields do not contain dates in the short format.
	When displaying date fields on a Q&A form, the user should chose one of the "long" formats: 1, 2, 5, 6, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14, 16, 18, 19, 20.
	All date / time handling in user defined programs should be updated. It is in the responsibility of the programmer to ensure correct operation. (See the file y2kdate.zip in the QAInfo section. This is a Q&A 5.0 database example of date programming).
	Further problems can arise because of the used hardware or other software. For example, some PCs can not have a current date beyond 1999 because of a bug in the computers BIOS.
	Q&A correctly identifies the year 2000 as a leap year.
	The print preview for cross tables grouped by date does will show empty columns. Print to screen and print to printer will work as expected.
	The Q&A file manager will show erroneous characters for the file date of file dated after 31.12.1999. There is a patch available for that problem. Please visit the Download page of our webserver to get that patch. (The file name is y2kfixeng.zip. NOTE: QAUG has the patch here too!)

The following method should be used to update Q&A databases:

Set the date / time formats in the database to one of the long formats.
Update the main form of the database so it can handle the longer fields.
When adding or updating records, enter date / time data always in the form "dd.mm.yyyy".
Update all Q&A programming to use the long formats in date / time arithmetic.
Be careful converting text fields to date / time fields (in programming and mass updates).

These recommendations can also be used for Q&A for Windows databases.

PFP Software GmbH has put together the recommendations with great care. However, PFP Software GmbH can not garantee that these recommendations are correct and / or complete. In particular, PFP Software can not be held responsible for ANY damages (including to data loss) that might arise when someone uses the recommendations.

From Symantec: The following is taken from the Symantec Customer Service FAQ and is reporduced here for information purposes only. The Q&A User Group and PFP Software GmbH can not be held responsible for ANY damages (including to data loss) that might arise when someone uses the recommendations.

Q&A and Y2k Compliance

Symantec is committed to developing software for the Windows, DOS, Windows 95, Windows NT and Macintosh operating systems and will maintain our commitment into the Year 2000. We will only test the latest releases of our software. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.

Unlike many Symantec products, in order to function properly after the dawning of the Year 2000, the date format within the Q & A product must be changed to the long date format. The product does have the ability to calculate date functions using four digits for the year. If you have further questions regarding the use of the long date format under Q&A, we would recommend contacting Q&A technical support for more information.

If you have further questions or concerns, you may reply to this message; or, please call (800) 441-7234, and one of our representatives will assist you; or if you prefer, you can submit your inquiries in writing and fax them to us at (541) 984-8020. Our mailing address is:

SYMANTEC CORPORATION
Attn: Year 2000
175 W Broadway
Eugene, OR 97401