I have been building an Access database for about two years now and am just starting on a new project.
What is the best date type to set up a Date/Time record that is easy to enter in, but yet keeps specific date and time information?

The data I’m collecting is for production logs with information including:
Date
Start Time
Stop Time
Down Time

I need to be able to figure the time between the start and stop, as well as subtracting out the down time. I would also like to track the amount of time from the “Stop Time” in one record to the “Start Time” in the next record. Is that even possible to do automatically?

I’ve done some with date and time in previous projects, and it always seemed like it could be done a little easier.

Any suggestions, advise?

Hi,

What version of Access are you using? Knowing the Access version may help us determine a more appropriate response to your question.

In my humble opinion, you could stick with just two Date/Time fields to store the date and time for the "start" and the date and time for the "stop." The other parts, such as the down time and time difference between records, can be calculated from those two.

Just my 2 cents... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/2cents.gif)

Access 2010.

I guess my question is, how do I turn "1/20/2012 3:26PM" into just having to key in "3:26 PM"

Part 2: How do you calculate the difference between the last stop and next start?

Thanks in advance.

Hi,


Thanks.



Not sure but this demo might help:

Time Pieces Demo



For that, check out the techniques presented in this MS Article:

ACC: Referring to a Field in the Previous or Next Record

Just my 2 cents... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/2cents.gif)