Unix Time?

Question

Hello,

I would like to incorporate a MMDDYY date format into a Sample ID. The Sample ID should be formatted into a standard "Facility Name-Date-Material Type-Sample Replicate" format.

The date space in that format, pulling from a date question with the default set to today(), January 24, 2024, is showing up as 1706126400000.

So my Sample ID is something like BA-1706126400000-OCC-1. I've referenced this article many times and haven't figured out what I'm doing wrong - https://community.esri.com/t5/arcgis-survey123-blog/dates-and-time-in-survey123/ba-p/895528.

I do know that that string of numbers is the Unix code, or seconds since 1970..for some reason.

I'm getting errors when using the decimal-date calculation and format-date calculations.

Help!

dougbrowning · Answer

Yes this would be a calculation and can be part of your concat to make the code you want.

achs · Answer

* Hi! I am trying to convert a UNIX date to regular time, to concatenate the date with other data such as name and barcode.

Should the expression format-date(today(), '%m%e%y') be placed in the "calculation" field?

* Not sure about where I should place the expression to convert the date to a regular time.
* Does it work for previous dates? I'm requesting the date for old documents.

trashbaby · Answer

From user abureaux, who assisted me on another topic:

I did make one addition to your document: sample_date_calc. If you reference a date field, you will get the UNIX time rather than human time (feel free to change the format to whatever suits you best):

This is what finally got it to work for me!