New User - Date Format Error

[ag0044]

Not the way I like to start my membership of this forum, but my first post is a plea for assistance.

Got a WH1091 this week. Got it all set up and running, all seems well on that front. EasyWeather talks to the console and displays data quite happily.

Cumulus talks to the console, but displays the "Date format error" message. Both my system setting and the StartDate in cumulus.ini seem to be the same: dd/MMM/yyyy (ie. "13/Jan/2010"). For what it's worth, today.ini also seems to use that format. The date format hasn't been changed since Win7 was installed last month.

I've tried de-installing Cumulus, re-booting (a couple of times), and re-installing Cumulus. The problem has persisted.

I've searched through the forum and the FAQ, but none of the suggested answers work (but I wouldn't be so brave, nor foolish, to say that I found them all).

Does anyone have any further suggestion, please?

Thanks

[steve]

What is your short date format set to in the Windows 7 control panel?

[ag0044]

Steve,

Thanks for the prompt response.

My short date format is, as above, "dd/MMM/yyyy" (too much confusion in the past about which is the month and which is the date).

[steve]

Very strange. There must be something about the date that Windows doesn't like. Could you attach your cumulus.ini file (take out any passwords, and PM it to me if you want) and I'll set my date format the same as yours and see what happens.

[ag0044]

I looked through that cumulus.ini file SO carefully.

Saw that the LastLoggerDownload was in the correct format. Did NOT see that the date is a year out. Would that be the problem?

[steve]

LastLoggerDownload is always a year ago; it's not used.

I don't actually have an option to set a short date format of dd/MMM/yyyy even if I chose English (Australia). Could you attach a screenshot of your 'Region and language' box, please?

[ag0044]

LastLoggerDownload is always a year ago; it's not used.

Still, embarrassing that I missed it.

I don't actually have an option to set a short date format of dd/MMM/yyyy even if I chose English (Australia). Could you attach a screenshot of your 'Region and language' box, please?

It's not a "standard" option! From Region and Language, click on the Additional Settings button, then go to the Date tab. I believe you can set just about whatever format you want [not tested in Win7]. Screendump:

RandL.png

[steve]

Oh, right

Sadly, it seems that the the Windows date functions which I use can't cope with the non-standard settings. I added more diagnostics to show the format and what was expected, and this is what happened:

2010-01-13 11:45:09 : Date error in DisplayAllTimeRecs: '13/Jan/2010' is not a valid date
2010-01-13 11:45:09 : Start date format: 13/Jan/2010
2010-01-13 11:45:09 : Expected format: 13/Jan/2010

I'm not sure what I can do about that. I'll investigate...

[ag0044]

I'm not sure what I can do about that. I'll investigate...

Thanks, that'll be great.

[steve]

I've found confirmation that the system function which parses the date string uses shortdateformat to determine the order of the fields, but can only cope with digits and not letters. So I will have to write my own parser, if I can't find one that someone else has already done

Or... I could force the code which writes the date to use only digits, that's probably simpler...

[ag0044]

[Tongue-in-cheek mode ON] I love offering challenges to other people [Tongue in cheek mode OFF]

Or, you could just forget about the whole thing, as it's only a single Anglo-Australian trouble-maker who seems to have the problem - which is of his own making - and let him find his own answer.

[steve]

No, I brought this on myself by not thinking about date formats in the first place (but it was only for me originally) so I'll damn well fix it!

[steve]

Build 897 should fix this: http://www.nybbles.co.uk/downloads/beta ... sSetup.exe

[ag0044]

Build 897 should fix this: http://www.nybbles.co.uk/downloads/beta ... sSetup.exe

Brilliant! Initial testing confirms this. No "date format error" messages so far.

I'll do more testing (clicking madly here, there and anywhere) after I've re-read the FAQ, imported the 3-day backlog of data and had some sleep - but first, perhaps, a small malt (it's a cool night here, 14.8C!).

MANY thanks