Wrong Date format in SQL Server

Question

Hello All,
I have an asp page with a hidden field that holds
<%=Date()%>. Because the
Session.LCID is set to UK this value today would be
12/03/2007 (UK format).
When this hidden field is fed into an INSERT Stored Procedure
in SQL Server
in my testing environment, the date format that is inserted
into the
database is the same as the value in the hidden field eg
12/03/2007, which
is what I want.
Now though, the site has moved to a production web server
with SQL Server.
When I perform this exact insert using the same webpages and
(from what I
can see) the same SQL Server configuration, the date inserts
as 03/12/2007,
US format. This is causing me big problems as the website is
complete but
the wrong dateformat is producing some undesirable results.
The whole site
is set up to expect the original format and I cannot see why
this is
happening.
Does anyone have any suggestions and more importantly how I
can change this
please.

Answer 1

There is a real issue here and it has nothing to do with the
way that data
is formatted on the way out.
msSQL does seem to always assume that numbers entered in the
format of
00/00/00 follow the pattern of MM/DD/YY which is American
format. So the 8th
of March entered in UK format of 08/03/2007 ends up being
intrepreted by SQL
as 3rd August. However it only does this up to the 12th of
each month. If
you enter the 13th of March as 13/03/2007 SQL stores it
correctly.
The workaround does seem to enter the number in the
YYYY-MM-DD format as
Julian has suggested.
Paul Whitham
Certified Dreamweaver MX2004 Professional
Adobe Community Expert - Dreamweaver
Valleybiz Internet Design
www.valleybiz.net
"Lionstone" <[email protected]> wrote in
message
news:[email protected]...
> SQL Server does not store dates in any format. They are
simply numbers,
> with the integer part representing date and the
fractional part
> representing time. If you do not format dates on the way
out, then you're
> leaving things up to your web server (and depending on
when the dates
> become strings, it might be the ADO provider and not ASP
that does the
> formatting).
>
> The only way to reliably format dates the way you want
is to do so
> explicitly. You may use CONVERT for SQL Server and
specify a format
> option (
http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa226054(SQL.80).aspx),
> or you may use the FormatDateTime function in your ASP
page.
> FormatDateTime is locale-aware when it formats dates.
All you have to do
> is make sure the locale is set properly (which you seem
to have done).
>
>
>
> "TTal" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
>> Hello All,
>>
>> I have an asp page with a hidden field that holds
<%=Date()%>. Because
>> the Session.LCID is set to UK this value today would
be 12/03/2007 (UK
>> format).
>>
>> When this hidden field is fed into an INSERT Stored
Procedure in SQL
>> Server in my testing environment, the date format
that is inserted into
>> the database is the same as the value in the hidden
field eg 12/03/2007,
>> which is what I want.
>>
>> Now though, the site has moved to a production web
server with SQL
>> Server. When I perform this exact insert using the
same webpages and
>> (from what I can see) the same SQL Server
configuration, the date inserts
>> as 03/12/2007, US format. This is causing me big
problems as the website
>> is complete but the wrong dateformat is producing
some undesirable
>> results. The whole site is set up to expect the
original format and I
>> cannot see why this is happening.
>>
>> Does anyone have any suggestions and more
importantly how I can change
>> this please.
>>
>
>