I’ve read Mr. Aloo’s tutorial on unique serial numbers by parsing sections of the functions Today() and Now() to generate a unique timestamp record identifier and in trying to implement this for use primarily on an Android phone, the Now() function is giving me erratic results.
If I simply setup a calculation question using once(now()) and then display the result in a text question box the result on the phone is merely the date (ex. 2019-03-15 )while on the preview within web based Kobo the full date and time are displayed (ex. 2019-03-15T09:52:09.608-08:00).
As such, my ability to build a unique serial number based partly on Now() is not successful since the time portion is not being identified in the phone based version.
However, if I use a function like this in a calculation question:
format-date-time(once(now()), “%y%m%d%H%M%S”)
and then have the calculation displayed in a text question the result on the phone is correct as in:
190315095209
but on the web based form builder the preview screen shows the result as “invalid date”
So, while I get the result I am after on the phone based form, I’m not sure why all the irregularities and I am worried that different phones (or versions of Android) and their system date/time settings will create problems in the future.
Anyone else have difficulties with the Today() and Now() and various formatting functions?
Thanks,
Carl