Formatting MM/DD/YYYY dates in textbox in VBA

Question

I'm looking for a way to automatically format the date in a VBA text box to a MM/DD/YYYY format, and I want it to format as the user is typing it in. For instance, once the user types in the second number, the program will automatically type in a "/". Now, I got this working (as well as the second dash) with the following code:

Private Sub txtBoxBDayHim_Change()
    If txtBoxBDayHim.TextLength = 2 or txtBoxBDayHim.TextLength = 5 then
    txtBoxBDayHim.Text = txtBoxBDayHim.Text + "/"
End Sub

Now, this works great when typing. However, when trying to delete, it still enters in the dashes, so its impossible for the user to delete past one of the dashes (deleting a dash results in a length of 2 or 5, and the sub is then run again, adding in another dash). Any suggestions on a better way to do this?

Answer 1

You could use an input mask on the text box, too. If you set the mask to ##/##/#### it will always be formatted as you type and you don't need to do any coding other than checking to see if what was entered was a true date.

Which just a few easy lines

txtUserName.SetFocus
If IsDate(txtUserName.text) Then
    Debug.Print Format(CDate(txtUserName.text), "MM/DD/YYYY")
Else
    Debug.Print "Not a real date"
End If

Answer 2

While I agree with what's mentioned in the answers below, suggesting that this is a very bad design for a Userform unless copious amounts of error checks are included...

to accomplish what you need to do, with minimal changes to your code, there are two approaches.

1. Use KeyUp() event instead of Change event for the textbox. Here is an example:

   Private Sub TextBox2_KeyUp(ByVal KeyCode As MSForms.ReturnInteger, ByVal Shift As Integer)
   
       Dim TextStr As String
       TextStr = TextBox2.Text
   
       If KeyCode <> 8 Then ' i.e. not a backspace
   
           If (Len(TextStr) = 2 Or Len(TextStr) = 5) Then
               TextStr = TextStr & "/"
           End If
   
       End If
       TextBox2.Text = TextStr
   End Sub
   

2. Alternately, if you need to use the Change() event, use the following code. This alters the behavior so the user keeps entering the numbers, as

   12072003
   

while the result as he's typing appears as

    12/07/2003

But the '/' character appears only once the first character of the DD i.e. 0 of 07 is entered. Not ideal, but will still handle backspaces.

    Private Sub TextBox1_Change()
        Dim TextStr As String

        TextStr = TextBox1.Text

        If (Len(TextStr) = 3 And Mid(TextStr, 3, 1) <> "/") Then
            TextStr = Left(TextStr, 2) & "/" & Right(TextStr, 1)
        ElseIf (Len(TextStr) = 6 And Mid(TextStr, 6, 1) <> "/") Then
            TextStr = Left(TextStr, 5) & "/" & Right(TextStr, 1)
        End If

        TextBox1.Text = TextStr
    End Sub

Answer 3

Add something to track the length and allow you to do "checks" on whether the user is adding or subtracting text. This is currently untested but something similar to this should work (especially if you have a userform).

'add this to your userform or make it a static variable if it is not part of a userform
private oldLength as integer

Private Sub txtBoxBDayHim_Change()
    if ( oldlength > txboxbdayhim.textlength ) then
        oldlength =txtBoxBDayHim.textlength
        exit sub
    end if

    If txtBoxBDayHim.TextLength = 2 or txtBoxBDayHim.TextLength = 5 then
    txtBoxBDayHim.Text = txtBoxBDayHim.Text + "/"
    end if
    oldlength =txtBoxBDayHim.textlength
End Sub

Answer 4

Private Sub txtBoxBDayHim_KeyPress(ByVal KeyAscii As MSForms.ReturnInteger)
If KeyAscii >= 48 And KeyAscii <= 57 Or KeyAscii = 8 Then 'only numbers and backspace
    If KeyAscii = 8 Then 'if backspace, ignores + "/"
    Else
        If txtBoxBDayHim.TextLength = 10 Then 'limit textbox to 10 characters
        KeyAscii = 0
        Else
            If txtBoxBDayHim.TextLength = 2 Or txtBoxBDayHim.TextLength = 5 Then 'adds / automatically
            txtBoxBDayHim.Text = txtBoxBDayHim.Text + "/"
            End If
        End If
    End If
Else
KeyAscii = 0
End If
End Sub

This works for me. :)

Your code helped me a lot. Thanks!

I'm brazilian and my english is poor, sorry for any mistake.

Answer 5

Just for fun I took Siddharth's suggestion of separate textboxes and did comboboxes. If anybody's interested, add a userform with three comboboxes named cboDay, cboMonth and cboYear and arrange them left to right. Then paste the code below into the UserForm's code module. The required combobox properties are set in UserFormInitialization, so no additional prep should be required.

The tricky part is changing the day when it becomes invalid because of a change in year or month. This code just resets it to 01 when that happens and highlights cboDay.

I haven't coded anything like this in a while. Hopefully it will be of interest to somebody, someday. If not it was fun!

Dim Initializing As Boolean

Private Sub UserForm_Initialize()
Dim i As Long
Dim ctl As MSForms.Control
Dim cbo As MSForms.ComboBox

Initializing = True
With Me
    With .cboMonth
        '        .AddItem "month"
        For i = 1 To 12
            .AddItem Format(i, "00")
        Next i
        .Tag = "DateControl"
    End With
    With .cboDay
        '        .AddItem "day"
        For i = 1 To 31
            .AddItem Format(i, "00")
        Next i
        .Tag = "DateControl"
    End With
    With .cboYear
        '        .AddItem "year"
        For i = Year(Now()) To Year(Now()) + 12
            .AddItem i
        Next i
        .Tag = "DateControl"
    End With
    DoEvents
    For Each ctl In Me.Controls
        If ctl.Tag = "DateControl" Then
            Set cbo = ctl
            With cbo
                .ListIndex = 0
                .MatchRequired = True
                .MatchEntry = fmMatchEntryComplete
                .Style = fmStyleDropDownList
            End With
        End If
    Next ctl
End With
Initializing = False
End Sub

Private Sub cboDay_Change()
If Not Initializing Then
    If Not IsValidDate Then
        ResetMonth
    End If
End If
End Sub

Private Sub cboMonth_Change()
If Not Initializing Then
    ResetDayList
    If Not IsValidDate Then
        ResetMonth
    End If
End If
End Sub

Private Sub cboYear_Change()
If Not Initializing Then
    ResetDayList
    If Not IsValidDate Then
        ResetMonth
    End If
End If
End Sub

Function IsValidDate() As Boolean
With Me
    IsValidDate = IsDate(.cboMonth & "/" & .cboDay & "/" & .cboYear)
End With
End Function
Sub ResetDayList()
Dim i As Long
Dim StartDay As String

With Me.cboDay
    StartDay = .Text
    For i = 31 To 29 Step -1
        On Error Resume Next
        .RemoveItem i - 1
        On Error GoTo 0
    Next i
    For i = 29 To 31
        If IsDate(Me.cboMonth & "/" & i & "/" & Me.cboYear) Then
            .AddItem Format(i, "0")
        End If
    Next i
    On Error Resume Next
    .Text = StartDay
    If Err.Number <> 0 Then
        .SetFocus
        .ListIndex = 0
    End If
End With
End Sub

Sub ResetMonth()
Me.cboDay.ListIndex = 0
End Sub

Answer 6

I never suggest using Textboxes or Inputboxes to accept dates. So many things can go wrong. I cannot even suggest using the Calendar Control or the Date Picker as for that you need to register the mscal.ocx or mscomct2.ocx and that is very painful as they are not freely distributable files.

Here is what I recommend. You can use this custom made calendar to accept dates from the user

PROS:

1. You don't have to worry about user inputting wrong info
2. You don't have to worry user pasting in the textbox
3. You don't have to worry about writing any major code
4. Attractive GUI
5. Can be easily incorporated in your application
6. Doesn't use any controls for which you need to reference any libraries like mscal.ocx or mscomct2.ocx

CONS:

Ummm...Ummm... Can't think of any...

HOW TO USE IT

1. Download the Userform1.frm and Userform1.frx from here.
2. In your VBA, simply import Userform1.frm as shown in the image below.

Importing the form

RUNNING IT

You can call it in any procedure. For example

Sub Sample()
    UserForm1.Show
End Sub

SCREEN SHOTS IN ACTION