"Can't get Date of"

Scripting Forums AppleScript Studio & Xcode
#1

i am having a problem formating a date command.


set currentDate to date to the contents of text field "timeTextfield"

i get the error “Can’t get date of “01:00:00”. (-1728)”

any suggestions?

#2

You can try:

Jon

#3

thanks jon for the tip. but now i get a NSCannotCreateScriptCommandError… arg. i hate those.


property currentDate : 0
property startDate : 0
property endDate : 0

set currentDate to (contents of text field "timeTextfield") as date
set startDate to current date
set endDate to startDate + (time of currentDate)

this input date is in the following format. HH:MM:SS (00:00:00)
it looks to me the trouble is still with the


set currentDate to (contents of text field "timeTextfield") as date

it is frustrating. everything else works. but that one line.

-Dan

#4

the only documentation that i can find of accepting date / times from a textfield, comes from a display dialog, and not from a panel window. i have tried the display dialog, and it works great… but i have more then one textfield to submit.


set currentDate to date (text returned of withReply)
#5

This works for me (assuming you have this in the proper tell block of the container of the text field, i.e., “tell window 1”):

Jon

#6

i have narrowed my error to “set currentDate to date currentDate”
i get the “NSCannotCreateScriptCommandError (10)” Applescript error.

i have read apple’s error pages. doesn’t do much to help me resolve it. not even really sure why it is giving that error at the line of code, but it does. according to everything i have read, the line is correct.


on clicked theObject
	if name of theObject is "setButton" then
		tell window of theObject
			set theProgram to contents of text field "programTextfield"
			set theTime to contents of text field "timeTextfield"
			set theDate to theTime as string
			set currentDate to date theDate -- NS error occurs here.
		end tell
		try
			set the contents of text field "displayTextfield" of window "mainWindow" to theProgram
			set the contents of text field "timerTextfield" of window "mainWindow" to currentDate
			set needs display of text field "displayTextfield" of window "mainWindow" to true
			set needs display of text field "timerTextfield" of window "mainWindow" to true
		end try
	end if
end clicked

i would think that i am using the correct tell blocks? should i be using a different tell?

#7

Hi :slight_smile:
I am not sure that this is solution of your problem there (I knows little ASStudio), but I have already met this problem when the function “date” was inside a statement “tell - end tell”. The solution that I had found was to use the function date in a dedicated sub-routine, here is an idea:

on clicked theObject 
   if name of theObject is "setButton" then 
      tell window of theObject 
         set theProgram to contents of text field "programTextfield" 
         set theTime to contents of text field "timeTextfield" 
         set theDate to theTime as string 
         set currentDate to my SubDate(theDate)
      end tell 
      try 
         set the contents of text field "displayTextfield" of window "mainWindow" to theProgram 
         set the contents of text field "timerTextfield" of window "mainWindow" to currentDate 
         set needs display of text field "displayTextfield" of window "mainWindow" to true 
         set needs display of text field "timerTextfield" of window "mainWindow" to true 
      end try 
   end if 
end clicked 

on SubDate(TheString)
	return (date TheString) as date
end SubDate

… :rolleyes:

#8

thanks fredo! that worked great! no more nasty errors.

#9

to make a timer count down from a pre set time… once would use code something close to this? I can’t get it to update the timer window correctly.


property countdown : false

on idle theObject
	if countdown is true then
		if (current date) is greater than endDate then
			set countdown to false
			tell application theProgram to quit
			set the contents of text field "displayTextfield" of window "mainWindow" to "Time is up!"
			set needs display of text field "displayTextfield" of window "mainWindow" to true
			
		else
			set elapsedTime to (current date) - startDate
			set contents of text field "timerTextfield" of window "mainWindow" to currentDate - elapsedTime
		end if
	end if
	return 1
end idle

this is where i set all the info, that works great.


property currentDate : 0
property startDate : 0
property endDate : 0


on clicked theObject
	if name of theObject is "setButton" then
		tell window of theObject
			set theProgram to contents of text field "programTextfield"
			set theTime to contents of text field "timeTextfield"
			set theDate to theTime as string
			set currentDate to my SubDate(theDate)
			set startDate to current date
			set endDate to startDate + (time of currentDate)
			set countdown to true
			
		end tell
		try
			set the contents of text field "displayTextfield" of window "mainWindow" to theProgram
			set needs display of text field "displayTextfield" of window "mainWindow" to true
		end try
	end if
end clicked