JXCirrusDiary Dates

Overview

JXCirrus Diary is all about time. How to use it, how much is left, and where it all went. A system that obsessed with time ought to have some pretty good date functions - and JXCirrus Diary does.

JXCirrus Diary lets you perform functions on time a bit like you add and subtract numbers. It also has a few offbeat functions that let you do hoopy things with repeating tasks and the like.

This section describes all of the different types of date that you can enter into ANY date field in JXCirrus Diary. So these formats work fine for due dates for tasks, start and end of journal entries, repeating tasks etc...

If you only want to type in basic date information, then stop reading after "Basic Dates" or you may need therapy.

Basic Dates

It all starts off nice and easy...

3PM

Means 3PM today.

Or you could write...

3:15PM

I hope I don't need to explain that.

15:00

If you use European dates.

So lets look further afield...

3PM 25-Jun-2011

means 3PM on the 25-Jun-2011.

3PM 25-Jun

means 3PM on the 25-Jun this year. When you leave the year off a date, it means this year. If it is 25-Dec-2012 and you type 1-Jan, then you are going to get 1-Jan-2012 not 1-Jan-2013 (which you might have been expecting, if you were expecting the computer to read your mind).

And yes, we could get all fancy about it and try and be a bit smart about dates. So if I am looking for a due date, the I would expect it to be in the future so if I leave off the year then I jolly well expect it to be next year if I have already passed that date. But then, if you are typing in a journal entry you probably meant last year. Then you find yourself looking at the date and wondering what the computer is going to put - Does it think it is in the past or the future, oh my, oh my. So we made it simple. It means THIS YEAR.

How about

Fri 2PM

Means Friday 2PM this week (see rant about year). If it it currently Tuesday, then it means the Friday that comes 3 days later. If it is currently Saturday, then it means Friday which was yesterday.

3:15 Yesterday

Means 3:15 in the morning yesterday. You could also say "yes 3:15PM" (for short).

Tomorrow 14:00

Means 2PM tomorrow. You could say "tom 2PM".

Or even

Today 2PM

Fri 2PM Next Week

Means pretty much what it says. If it is now Sat 21-May-2011, then that would mean Fri 27-May-2011. And you can say

Fri 2PM Last Week

It isn't too fussed about order.

Yesterday 3:14 is the same as 3:14 Yesterday

And last, but not least.

now

Means... now.

So that is the basic stuff. If you want to enter diary appointments, then this is probably what you need to know.

Date Functions

If you have got this far, then you need to know how JXCirrus Diary reads these dates (yes I know you shouldn't need to care, but trust me, if you start writing gnarly date functions, then you will need to know this).

When the computer is reading in your date, it starts off with your little piece of text, and reads it left to right.

Lets look at this slightly bizarre date:

"Yesterday Fri 2PM Next Week"

Lets start working through it. Right now, the computer says it is 12PM today (it always starts with 12PM). Lets, for the sake of argument say that today is Mon 23-May-2011 (and we are in Australia, and so Monday is the first day of the week).

Step 1:

12PM Mon 23-May-2011

Step 2: "Yesterday"

12PM Sun 22-May-2011

Step 3: "Fri"

12PM Fri 20-May-2011

See how it went back, not forwards as you might have expected. Blame "yesterday".

Step 4: "2PM"

2PM Fri 20-May-2011

Step 5: "Next Week"

2PM Fri 27-May-2011

So now do you see why you needed to learn that! You might have expected that the answer would be 2PM on 3-Jun-2011 because maybe the "Fri" would cancel out the "Yesterday". But no... these dates work like maths, and they do that so that you can do tricky things with repeating tasks.

Offsets

"Next" can be fairly powerful, and can be used in a few different ways. If today is Sat 21-May-2011 then...

2PM Next Week

means 2PM on Sat 28-May-2011.

2PM Next Month

means 2PM on 21-Jun-2011.

2PM Next Year

means 2PM on 21-Jun-2012.

The word "Last" works in the same way.

We can add on amounts of time as well.

2PM +1 hour

means 1 hour after 2PM (or 3PM).

2PM +1 day

is the same as saying 2PM tomorrow

2PM +5 days

means 2PM in 5 days time

All of these can be used:

2pm +1 second

2pm +1 minute

2pm +1 hour

2pm +1 day

2pm +1 week

2pm +1 month

2pm +1 year

If we want to go backwards, say

2PM +-30 minutes

means 1:30PM

We can combine as many of these as we like.

5-May-2011 +1month +-7d

Means 29-May - See if you can follow it.

Handling Mothers Day

How do you do it... Try this (First Sunday in May for all of us Aussies).

May 1st Sun

Your golf day is the 2nd Tuesday...

2nd Tue 3PM

If you don't follow the "1st, 2nd, 3rd" with a day, then it means that date of this month.

14th 3PM

Means 14th of this month at 3PM

Workdays

To get really advanced, we can start to work in the Available Time information.

2PM Next Workday

Means 2PM on the next working day for that task. On Thu that might mean Fri, but on Fri that means next Mon.

Workday is not quite as simple as saying Mon-Fri... The function looks at the time type for the task, and then bases "Workday" on that. Saying "Workday" literally means - Go to the next day when I have that "Time Type" available.

So if you say 2PM Next Workday at work, and you go on leave the next day, then it means 2PM on the day you get back from leave. (Take careful note - this is very very handy for repeating tasks, because you really don't want to have JXCirrus Diary telling you to submit a daily report when you are on leave).

If you say "2PM Next Workday" and the job is a weekend job, then that might mean "next saturday".

Next Thu 2PM Fixed

"Fixed" is a variant on Workday, and is usually used for things like weekly meetings (ie it is at a fixed time). If differs from "Workday" because if it can't get available time on that day, it goes keeps going forward another week until it gets a free one.

OK - You are probably feeling like this makes no sense at all, so a welcome example:

Lets say it is Mon 9-May-2011. I am on leave on 19-May-2011, but back at work on 20-May-2011.

Next Thu 2PM Workday

becomes 2PM on Fri 20-May (because I was away on the Thu).

But...

Next Thu 2PM Fixed

Means go to the first Thursday I am at work, which is 26-May.

Just as you thought this couldn't get any worse...

Lets say I want to do a job during my admin time (so the task's time time is assigned to admin), but I want to do it on a weekend day only.

10PM Workdayfor Outdoors

Means go to the next working day for the Outdoors time type.

This works for fixed as well...

4:30PM Fixedfor Outdoors

Time Zones

Now (thankfully) something easier...

Lets say I am going overseas, and I am going to be in Dubai (which is 4 hours ahead of GMT). I have a meeting at 2PM local time.

So I put in:

2PM GMT+4

Or, lets say Dubai is usually 4 hours ahead of GMT, but they are on Daylight Savings Time.

2PM GMT+4 DST

If you got all that first go, there is a Nobel Prize with your name on it.