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Using Custom Format Strings in a Date and Time Picker Control

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By default, date and time picker controls provide three format types (each format corresponding to a unique style) for displaying the current date or time:

  • DTS_LONGDATEFORMAT Displays the date in long format, producing output like "Wednesday, January 3, 2000".

  • DTS_SHORTDATEFORMAT Displays the date in short format, producing output like "1/3/00".

  • DTS_TIMEFORMAT Displays the time in long format, producing output like "5:31:42 PM".

However, you can customize the appearance of the date or time by using a custom format string. This custom string is made up of either existing format characters, nonformat characters, or a combination of both. Once the custom string is built, make a call to CDateTimeCtrl::SetFormat passing in your custom string. The date and time picker control will then display the current value using your custom format string.

The following example code (where m_dtPicker is the CDateTimeCtrl object) demonstrates one possible solution:

CString formatStr = _T("'Today is: 'yy'/'MM'/'dd");
m_DateTimeCtrl.SetFormat(formatStr);

In addition to custom format strings, date and time picker controls also support callback fields.

See also

Using CDateTimeCtrl
Controls