Creating Custom Date/Time Variables

1. Open a variable set.

2. In the local toolbar click . A new row is added for the Date/Time variable.

3. To enter a new name or comment, do one of the following:

   • Double-click in the appropriate cell and type the name or comment.

     OR

   • Click once in the appropriate cell and press F2 on your keyboard. Then type the name or comment.

   Note: When naming or editing a variable, you must enter a unique name.

4. Click in the Definition cell. The Edit Format dialog opens.

5. In the field, enter a combination of format specifiers. As you do this, the current date and time are displayed below the field in that format.

   Specifiers are based on Microsoft's custom date and time format strings. For details of the specifiers available, see http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/8kb3ddd4.aspx.

   Here are some of the more common specifier combinations:

   Specifier Combination	Result
   MMMM dd, yyyy hh:mm:ss tt	July 09, 2013 03:55:53 PM
   hh:mm:ss tt dd MMMM, yyyy	03:55:53 PM 09 July, 2013
   dddd MMMM dd, yyyy	Tuesday July 09, 2013
   ddd MM/dd/yy	Tue 07/09/13

   Note: You can make a word part of the definition. For example, you might want the word Date with a colon and a space before a date string (e.g., Date: October 25, 2014). The issue is that certain characters are translated automatically as specifiers. So just typing the word Date wouldn't work. The easiest solution is to put the non-specifier characters within quotation marks. Therefore, you might enter "Date:" MMMM dd, yyyy.

6. In the Update field, select how you want the variable to display the date and time. You can choose any of the following:

   • Manually The variable displays the date and time when the variable was created. You can update the variable manually, and it will display the date and time when it was most recently updated.
   • On File Creation The variable displays the date and time that you created the file.
   • On File Save The variable displays the date and time that you last saved the file.
   • On Project Save The variable displays the date and time that you last saved all the files in the project.
   • On Build The variable displays the date and time of the most recent project build. This is the default date/time variable type.

7. Click OK. It might look something like this:

8. Click to save your work.

Note: System variables use the language set in a tag, in the target, or at the project level. For example, you might have an English operating system, but in your project you have French set as the language. If your topic uses a date/time variable, the day and month will display in French. Analyzer will also adjust the format of the variable if necessary (e.g., date first vs. month first).