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Formatting attribute date values 

Meridian stores date information so that it can be formatted according to the Windows locale settings of users. This may not be the format that you want used in drawing title blocks. If not, you can format the date values that are synchronized with AutoCAD attributes and MicroStation tags.

To format an attribute date value:

  1. In Configurator, expand Environment in the configuration tree and select Application Link Settings. The settings for each link appear in property pages in the right pane.
  2. Click the AutoCAD tab. The AutoCAD link’s settings page appears in the right pane.
  3. Click the Edit button to modify the settings.

Tip    To export the settings file to a location outside the vault, click the Export button. This can be useful if you would rather edit the file in your favorite text editor. You can then copy your changes to the Clipboard and paste them into Configurator.

  1. Locate the section in the file that begins with the block name surrounded by square brackets, for example, [MyTitleBlock] and locate the TitleBlockDateFormat setting. If the setting does not exist, you can create it. The value of this setting is options that specify how to format date and time values synchronized with attributes using the following format:

TitleBlockDateFormat = D{<DateFormat>} T{<TimeFormat>}

The date and time format options are described in the following tables. The following example formats dates like 11/03/2003:

TitleBlockDateFormat = D{dd/MM/yyyy}

The following example formats dates as 03-Mar-11.

TitleBlockDateFormat = D{yy-MMM/dd}

  1. Edit the value of TitleBlockDateFormat to meet your requirements.
  2. Click OK to save your changes.

The following table describes the date format options.

Attribute date value format options
Characters Description

d

Day of the month as digits with no leading zero for single-digit days

dd

Day of the month as digits with leading zero for single-digit days

ddd

Day of the week as a three-letter abbreviation associated with the Windows locale

dddd

Day of the week as its full name associated with the Windows locale

M

Month as digits with no leading zero for single-digit months

MM

Month as digits with leading zero for single-digit months

MMM

Month as a three-letter abbreviation associated with the Windows locale

MMMM

Month as its full name associated with the Windows locale

y

Year as last two digits with no leading zero for years less than 10

yy

Year as last two digits with leading zero for years less than 10

yyyy

Year as four digits

The following table describes the time format options.

Attribute time value format options
Characters Description

h

Hours with no leading zero for single-digit hours; 12-hour clock

hh

Hours with leading zero for single-digit hours; 12-hour clock

H

Hours with no leading zero for single-digit hours; 24-hour clock

HH

Hours with leading zero for single-digit hours; 24-hour clock

m

Minutes with no leading zero for single-digit minutes

mm

Minutes with leading zero for single-digit minutes

s

Seconds with no leading zero for single-digit seconds

ss

Seconds with leading zero for single-digit seconds

t

One-character time period, such as A or P

tt

Two-character time period, such as AM or PM

Related concepts

Understanding the MicroStation link

Understanding the AutoCAD links