Time/Date Format Options

17 - 11 Time/Date Format Options

The Specify Number Format dialog is available for all plot types, including Sketch. You can use this dialog to display your axis labels in a number of different formats, including Time/Date format. The Specify Number Format dialog can be accessed by going to the Plot>Axis>Label or the Plot>Axis>Range page, and selecting the [Number Format] button. See Section 6 - 7.2 “Specify Number Format” for more information on the Specify Number Format dialog.

You can also display elapsed time, instead of absolute time, on any axis. To do this, the original time/date data in your data file must indicate the elapsed time.)

To specify your axis label using Time/Date format, select "Time/Date" from the Type drop-down menu. Data is read forward from December 30, 1899. Tecplot 360 EX also accepts negative values to support dates back to January 1, 1800.

You can format your labels by entering the available Time/Date codes in the Format field. When entering a format, any combination or subset of the Time/Date formula may be used.

If you use "m" immediately after the "h" or "hh" code or immediately before the "ss" code, Tecplot 360 EX displays minutes instead of the month.

Use the following formula and table to enter your Time/Date codes:

Time Date Formula:

years-months-days hours:minutes:seconds

	Time/Date Code	Display Format
Years	yy	00-99
Years	yyyy	1800-9999
Months ^a	mmmmm	first letter of the month
	m	1-12
	mm	01-12
	mmm	Jan-Dec
	mmmm	January-December
Days	[d]^b	total number of elapsed days
	d	1-31
	dd	01-31
	ddd	Sun-Sat
	dddd	Sunday-Saturday
	ddddd	S,M,T,W,T,F,S
Hours ^c	[h]	total number of elapsed hours
	h	0-23 or 1-12
	hh	00-23 or 1-12
	AM/PM	AM or PM
	A/P	AM or PM as "A" or "P"
Minutes	[m]	total number of elapsed minutes
	m	0-59
	mm	00-59
Seconds	s	0-59
	ss	00-59
	.0	Tenths
	.00	Hundredths
	.000	Thousandths

^aCodes can be entered as upper or lower case letters; however, letters will be displayed as shown in the display format. Numbers that cannot be formatted as a time or date will be displayed as asterisks.

^bTotal number of elapsed days, hours, and minutes are valid for time values greater than or equal to zero, and equal to or less than 1,000,000 days.

^cNOTE: If you enter "AM/PM" or "A/P" in your Time/Date format, the "h" and "hh" hour codes are expressed using a 12-hour clock. Otherwise, hours are expressed in military time (24 hour clock).

Time/Date Codes:

Placing a backslash in front of a y, m, d, or s in the Time/Date formula will keep it from being processed as part of the formula. All characters not part of the Time/Date formula will appear as entered.

For example, "\year yyyy" will appear as "year 2008", as the backslash keeps the first y from being processed as part of the formula.

Examples

To display the time and date on your plot as a "Sat-Jan-05-2008", enter the following code:

ddd-mmm-dd-yyyy

To display the time and date on your plot as a "1-3-08", enter the following code:

m-d-yy

To display the time and date on your plot as a "9:30:05 AM", enter the following code:

h:mm:ss AM

To display an elapsed time, such as"3:10:15", enter the following code:

[d]:hh:mm

17 - 11.1 Microsoft Excel Support

Tecplot 360 EX supports Microsoft Excel ¹ Time/Date number strings, with the exception of AM/PM time specifications, long day names, and long month names. This support allows you to create number formats in Excel and import them for use with your Tecplot 360 EX plots, or vice versa.

Time/Date number strings can be transferred from Excel to Tecplot 360 EX from Mar 1, 1900 forward.

17 - 11.2 Loading Time/Date Data

You can load time/date data into Tecplot 360 EX in the same way as any other data point. The following methods load time/date data as a floating-point number. (After loading, use Plot>Axis>Labels>Number Format to change the axis format to a time/date display.) The following methods can be used to load time/date data into Tecplot 360 EX.

1.Excel Macro (add-on) This add-on offers more options to load data from Excel. Although it requires installation into Excel, after installing, this method enables quick and simple data loading from Excel into Tecplot 360 EX. Refer to Section B - 1 “Excel Add-In” for details.

2.Text Spreadsheet Loader For loading delimited files, use this loader. Refer to Section 4 - 26 “Text Spreadsheet Loader” for instructions. Time/date data included in this format must be represented by the floating point number used by Excel and Tecplot 360 EX. (See the Data Format Guide for more information on this formatting.)