What does the BestBefore() formula do?

Views:

Product: LABELVIEW, CODESOFT

Version: All Versions

BestBefore(«date», «dateFormat», «offset», «offsetUnit», «changeMonth», «outputFormat») calculates a Best Before date based on a specified input date rather than the current system date.

Function Parameters

Parameter	Type	Description
Return Value	String	A calculated date returned as a formatted string.
date	String	The base date value in string format.
dateFormat	String / Number	Defines the format of the base date. Numeric values reference predefined formats. 0 or negative values use the system date format. String values define a custom format directly (for example: yyyy/mm/dd).
offset	Number	The number of date units added to the base date.
offsetUnit	String / Number	Defines the offset unit: 1, "d", or "D" = Days 2, "m", or "M" = Months 3, "y", or "Y" = Years
changeMonth	Number	Optional (Default = True) 0 = False 1 = True If the calculated date does not exist in the target month: True returns the first day of the following month. False returns the last valid day of the target month.
outputFormat	String / Number	Optional. If omitted, the output format matches the input date format. Supports the same values as dateFormat.

Predefined Date Formats

Number	Date Format
1	dd/mm
2	dd mmmm
3	dd/mm/yy
4	dd/mm/yyyy
5	mm/dd
6	mmmm dd
7	mm/dd/yy
8	mm/dd/yyyy
9	mmm-yy
10	mmmm-yy
11	dd-mmm-yy
12	dd-mmmm-yy
13	d/m/yy
14	dddd/m/yy
15	ddddd/m/yy
16	d/m/yyyy
17	dd/mmmm/yyyy
18	d mmmm yyyy
19	ddddd dd mmm yyyy
20	dd/mm/yy h:nn
21	mm/dd/yy h:nn

Examples

Syntax
BestBefore («date», «dateFormat», «offset», «offsetUnit», «changeMonth», «outputFormat»)

BestBefore("14/06/2012", "dd/mm/yyyy", "18", "m", 1, "dd/mm/yyyy") returns 14/12/2013.

Example Using a Date Variable

Create a date variable named date0 containing the current date (for example: 26/06/2012 in dd/mm/yy format).
BestBefore(date0, "dd/mm/yy", "18", "m", 1, "dd/mm/yyyy") returns the date 18 months after the value stored in date0.

Keywords: bestbefore, bestbefore formula, bestbefore function, LABELVIEW formula, CODESOFT formula