monthstart - script and chart function

This function returns a value corresponding to a timestamp of the first millisecond of the first day of the month containing date. The default output format will be the DateFormat set in the script.

Syntax:

MonthStart(date[, period_no])

Return data type: dual

Arguments:

Argument	Description
date	The date to evaluate.
period_no	period_no is an integer, which, if 0 or omitted, indicates the month that contains date. Negative values in period_no indicate preceding months and positive values indicate succeeding months.

These examples use the date format DD/MM/YYYY. The date format is specified in the SET DateFormat statement at the top of your data load script. Change the format in the examples to suit your requirements.

Example

Result

monthstart('19/10/2001')

Returns 01/10/2001.

monthstart('19/10/2001', -1)

Returns 01/09/2001.

Add the example script to your app and run it. Then add, at least, the fields listed in the results column to a sheet in your app to see the result.

This example finds the first day in the month of each invoice date in the table, where the base_date is shifted by four months by specifying period_no as 4.

TempTable:

LOAD RecNo() as InvID, * Inline [

InvDate

28/03/2012

10/12/2012

5/2/2013

31/3/2013

19/5/2013

15/9/2013

11/12/2013

2/3/2014

14/5/2014

13/6/2014

7/7/2014

4/8/2014

];

InvoiceData:

LOAD *,

MonthStart(InvDate, 4) AS MthStart

Resident TempTable;

Drop table TempTable;

The resulting table contains the original dates and a column with the return value of the monthstart() function. You can display the full timestamp by specifying the formatting in the properties panel.

InvDate	MthStart
28/03/2012	01/07/2012
10/12/2012	01/04/2013
5/2/2013	01/06/2013
31/3/2013	01/07/2013
19/5/2013	01/09/2013
15/9/2013	01/01/2014
11/12/2013	01/04/2014
2/3/2014	01/07/2014
14/5/2014	01/09/2014
13/6/2014	01/10/2014
7/7/2014	01/11/2014
4/8/2014	01/12/2014

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