Creating Date and Time Fields in Acumatica

Introduction#

This topic will walk you through different options available in the Acumatica Framework to create date and time fields in a data access class (DAC).

The PX(DB)DateAndTime Attribute

The PXDBDateAndTime attribute and the PXDateAndTime attribute are designed to work with a DAC field of the Nullable<DateTime> (DateTime?) type and store both date and time value parts inside a single field:

#region UsrDateAndTime
public abstract class usrDateAndTimeAttribute : IBqlField
{ }

[PXDBDateAndTime(
    DisplayNameDate = "Date Value Part",
    DisplayNameTime = "Time Value Part")]
public DateTime? UsrDateAndTime { get; set; }
#endregion

From the UI perspective, for a field decorated with PXDBDateAndTimeAttribute or PXDateAndTimeAttribute, one is expected to create either separate input controls for date and time value parts:

<px:PXDateTimeEdit runat="server" ID="edUsrDate" DataField="UsrDateAndTime_Date" />
<px:PXDateTimeEdit runat="server" ID="edUsrTime" DataField="UsrDateAndTime_Time" TimeMode="True" />

or separate grid columns to enter and display date and time values:

<Columns>
    ...
    <px:PXGridColumn DataField="UsrDateAndTime_Date" Width="90px" />
    <px:PXGridColumn DataField="UsrDateAndTime_Time" Width="90px" TimeMode="True" />
    ...
</Columns>

The PXDBTime Attribute

The PXDBTime attribute is designed to work with a DAC field of the Nullable<DateTime> (DateTime?) type and store only the time part without date inside a DAC field:

#region UsrTime
public abstract class usrTime : IBqlField
{ }

[PXDBTime(DisplayMask = "t", InputMask = "t")]
[PXUIField(DisplayName = "Time Only Value")]
public DateTime? UsrTime { get; set; }
#endregion

In the UI, for a field decorated with PXDBTimeAttribute the system creates an input control accepting only time values both on a form:

<px:PXDateTimeEdit runat="server" ID="edUsrTime" DataField="UsrTime" TimeMode="True" />

and within a grid cell:

<Columns>
    ...
    <px:PXGridColumn DataField="UsrTime" Width="120px" TimeMode="True" />
    ...
</Columns>

The PX(DB)DateAttribute Attribute

The PXDBDate attribute and the PXDate attribute are designed to work with a DAC field of the Nullable<DateTime> (DateTime?) type and store date value with an optional time part inside a single field. Wheather PX(DB)DateAttribute should save time in addition to date in a DAC field is defined by the PreserveTime property: when PreserveTime is set to True, the time part of a field value is preserved, otherwise only the date part is saved in a DAC field:

#region UsrDateTime
public abstract class usrDateTime : IBqlField
{ }

[PXDBDate(PreserveTime = true, InputMask = "g")]
[PXUIField(DisplayName = "DateTime Value")]
public DateTime? UsrDateTime { get; set; }
#endregion

#region UsrDate
public abstract class usrDate : IBqlField
{ }

[PXDBDate]
[PXUIField(DisplayName = "Date Value")]
public DateTime? UsrDate { get; set; }
#endregion

In the UI, for a field decorated with PXDBDateAttribute or PXDateAttribute the system creates an input control accepting either only date values or both date and time values depending on the value of PreserveTime property. This concept works exactly the same on a form:

<px:PXDateTimeEdit runat="server" ID="edUsrDateTime" DataField="UsrDateTime" Size="SM" />
<px:PXDateTimeEdit runat="server" ID="edUsrDate" DataField="UsrDate" />

and within a grid cell:

<Columns>
    ...
    <px:PXGridColumn DataField="UsrDateTime" Width="130px" />
    <px:PXGridColumn DataField="UsrDate" Width="90px" />
    ...
</Columns>

The PXDBTimeSpan Attribute

The PXDBTimeSpan attribute is designed to work with a DAC field of the Nullable<int> (int?) type and store time value inside a DAC field as the number of minutes passed since midnight:

#region UsrTimeInt
public abstract class usrTimeInt : IBqlField
{ }

[PXDBTimeSpan(DisplayMask = "t", InputMask = "t")]
[PXUIField(DisplayName = "Time Value")]
public int? UsrTimeInt { get; set; }
#endregion

In the UI, for a field decorated with PXDBTimeSpanAttribute the system creates a drop-down with half hour interval values both on a form:

and within a grid cell:

<px:PXDateTimeEdit runat="server" ID="edUsrTimeInt" DataField="UsrTimeInt" TimeMode="true" />

<px:PXGridColumn DataField="UsrTimeInt" Width="90px" TimeMode="true" />

The PXTimeList Attribute

The PXTimeList attribute is designed to work with a DAC field of the Nullable<int> (int?) type and store time span value inside a DAC field as a number of minutes:

#region UsrTimeSpan
public abstract class usrTimeSpan : IBqlField
{ }

[PXDBInt]
[PXTimeList]
[PXUIField(DisplayName = "Time Span")]
public int? UsrTimeSpan { get; set; }
#endregion

In the UI, for a field decorated with PXTimeListAttribute the system creates a drop-down with 30-minute interval values both on a form:

<px:PXTimeSpan ID="edUsrTimeSpan" runat="server" DataField="UsrTimeSpan" InputMask="hh:mm" />

and within a grid cell:

<RowTemplate>
    ...
    <px:PXTimeSpan ID="edgUsrTimeSpan" runat="server" DataField="UsrTimeSpan" InputMask="hh:mm" />
    ...
</RowTemplate>
<Columns>
...
    <px:PXGridColumn DataField="UsrTimeSpan" Width="90px" RenderEditorText="True" />
...
</Columns>