                                
                                  Date Converter

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             Written by David & Chris Ward with help from Roddy Simpson.
                             Program written in Basic.

                            This is a FREEWARE PROGRAM. 

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Purpose:
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  To convert Day/Month/Year dates to decimal year dates (for years between 1600 and 2400).

                            eg: 13/07/2000 to 2000.531


Genesis:
--------
  When plotting data (eg using Draw Basic), or even just ordinary, old-fasioned, graph
paper, it is difficult to plot against the date. For example, whereabouts is 13th July
2000 in relation to the beginning of the year? This program gives the answer as 2000.531,
ready for use in your plotting routine. Leap years are implemented.


Use:
----
  Double click on application and window opens up. Date shown is the one in the machine
(hopefully todays date - if not then you need to reset your clock!!). The decimal
equivalent is given on the right.
  To change date, edit left hand side and press return. Format must be dd/mm/yyyy, if not
you will be prompted when return is pressed.


Limitations:
------------
  As this program was designed for plotting dates around the present time, the range of
years covered is from 1600 to 2400. To implement years outside this range (ie to
correct for leap years), then the following line in proceedure 'datacollect' will need to
be edited:  

  IF Year%<1600 OR Year%>2400 THEN PROCWrongDate("Year Range"):ENDPROC

Additionally, extra lines similar to those below will have to be added.

  IF Year%=1700 OR Year%=1800 OR Year%=1900 THEN Leap%=0
  IF Year%=2100 OR Year%=2200 OR Year%=2300 THEN Leap%=0

There is probably a more elegant way to do this, but the program runs fast enough, so
I can't be bothered to think about it.


Version History:
----------------
  Version 0.01 (23/01/96) - Written for A3000
  Version 0.02 (12/07/98) - Leap year calculation corrected, and year range limited.
  Version 0.03 (21/10/99) - Date in box at start-up set to today's date.
  Version 0.04 ( 4/07/01) - Use WimpPollIdle instead of WimpPoll


The Usual:
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  No liability will be accepted by the authors for any mistakes, problems, or other nasty
happenings consequent upon the use of this program.


        Please feel free to send comments, improvements, corrections etc to:

                             wardworks@ntlworld.com

                                   Chris Ward


