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Macros, tips, and templates for Corel® WordPerfect® for Windows®
© Copyright 1996-2010 by Barry MacDonnell. All Rights Reserved.

There are several ways to do this, depending on what you want as output.

• You can use a WordPerfect table to calculate the new date:
  • Assuming the first date should be in table cell A1:
  • Format cell A1 as a Date by right-clicking the cell, choosing Numeric Format, then Date/Time. (You can click Custom to format the date differently, if desired.) Click OK. In the table cell, enter a date such as 12/4/08 and when you tab to the next cell or click in another cell, the date will appear as a date-formatted string.
  • Now, assuming you want to calculate a date 90 days hence:
  • In the second ("new date") cell, format it as a Date, and then enter this formula in the cell:
    • +A1+90
  • Note that the table must be set to auto-calculate. With the cursor in the table, click the top menu: Table, Calculate. You should see the Calculate dialog, which lets you turn automatic calculation on and off. Also, make sure you have not turned calculation off in the cell itself (right-click the cell, then choose Format, then un-check the "Ignore cell when calculating" box).
• You can use a WordPerfect floating cell to calculate the new date and insert it at the cursor location. See Footnote 1 below for the manual procedure and also some macros that can create the floating cell with the formula already in it, and then insert it in your document -- all in one operation.
• You can use a WordPerfect macro from this site to calculate (and optionally insert) a new date that is "x" days in the future (or the past) from today (or other date). See this small downloadable macro in InsDate.zip. It asks you for a date (the current date is the default), the number of days (plus or minus) from today, and some basic format options for the date. Then it displays the new date in a small dialog, which lets you insert the new date in the document at the current cursor location.
• To find the number of days between two dates, see Charles Rossiter's Julian macro.
• To find the day of the week a given date will fall on, try the Find day of week macro.
• Roy "lemoto" Lewis has posted several macros that calculate dates, such as Days After and Due Date.

Footnote 1

Here is the manual procedure to create a date-calculating floating table cell (mentioned above):

1. Create a floating cell at the cursor location: On the top menu (assuming you are using a WordPerfect menu), click Table, Create, <Floating cell radio button>, Create. In Reveal Codes you should see [FltCell>|<FltCell], where the red vertical line indicates the current cursor position.

2. In the Table formula bar that should be visible above the document area, click inside the blank field (to the right of the blue checkmark), and type this formula into that field:

+DATETEXT(DATEVALUE(DATE())-1)
Or:
+DATETEXT(MDY()-1)

3. Click the blue check mark. The calculated date should appear between the pair of [FltCell] codes in the document, as a text string.

4. Click Close on the formula bar. The [FltCell] codes can be deleted in Reveal Codes, since they have done their job of creating the static date.

Here are a few small macros you can copy into your WordPerfect program.

Each macro calculates "x" days from either the current (system) date or from another, specified date. They will then insert that new date in the document as a (static) text string inside a floating cell. (Floating cells cannot be created inside another table; hence, the initial code segment that pops a warning message.)

Examples #3 and #4 might be good candidates for a template macro that can be triggered automatically. For more on how to automate a template, see the main Tips page, here.

Note that the resulting floating cell (i.e., everything bracketed by [Flt Cell] codes, and including those codes) can be copied elsewhere in the document. Or you can add a DeleteCharPrevious command after the FloatingCellFormula command, as was done below (but disabled with comment marks ("//")). This will delete the [FltCell] codes as part of a "clean up" process.

To copy any of these macros into your WordPerfect program see here.

Example #1 - Use the current date, calculate a new date (+/-) "x" days from that date, based on a number of days the user inputs into a small dialog.

// Macro code begins:

If(?InTable)
Messagebox(; "Error";
  "You cannot play this macro inside a Table.")
  Return
Endif

OnCancel(End@)  // (used in case the user exists the GetNumber dialog)

vDate:= DateString()   // (stores today's date)

GetNumber(vDays;
"How many days from today?"+NToC(0F90Ah)+
"(use a minus sign for past days)";
"Insert a Date +/- 'x' Days from Today")

FloatingCellCreate
FloatingCellFormula("+DATETEXT(DATEVALUE("""+vDate+""")+"+vDays+")")
// DeleteCharPrevious // (optionally delete floating cell codes)

Label(End@)
Return
// End of macro

Example #2 - Use a static date other than the current date, calculate a new date (+/-) "x" days from that date, based on a number of days the user inputs into a small dialog.

// Macro code begins:

If(?InTable)
Messagebox(; "Error";
  "You cannot play this macro inside a Table.")
  Return
Endif

OnCancel(End@)  // (used in case the user exists the GenNumber dialog)

// Example: Store "January 15, 2009" as a static date in vDate:
vDate:=DateString(DateAndTime(15;1;2009))

GetNumber(vDays;
"How many days from today?"+NToC(0F90Ah)+
"(use a minus sign for past days)";
"Insert a Date +/- 'x' Days from Today")

FloatingCellCreate
FloatingCellFormula("+DATETEXT(DATEVALUE("""+vDate+""")+"+vDays+")")
// DeleteCharPrevious // (optionally delete floating cell codes)

Label(End@)
Return
// End of macro

Example #3 - Use the current date, calculate a new date that is a specified number of days from that date.

// Macro code begins:

If(?InTable)
Messagebox(; "Error";
  "You cannot play this macro inside a Table.")
  Return
Endif

vDate:= DateString()   // (stores today's date)
vDays:= -90   // (e.g., minus 90 days)

FloatingCellCreate
FloatingCellFormula("+DATETEXT(DATEVALUE("""+vDate+""")+"+vDays+")")
// DeleteCharPrevious // (optionally delete floating cell codes)

Return
// End of macro

Example #4 - Use the current date, calculate a new date that is a specified number of days from that date.

(Similar to Example #3.) Note that in Example #3 you could remove the vDate and vDays commands, and use just the following FloatingCellFormula() command, which is the equivalent to them. It will calculate a new date that is minus 90 days (in this example) from the current date (MDY()). So, this example is merely a simpler version of Example #3:

// Macro code begins:

If(?InTable)
Messagebox(; "Error";
"You cannot play this macro inside a Table.")
Return
Endif

FloatingCellCreate
FloatingCellFormula("+DATETEXT(MDY()-90)")
// DeleteCharPrevious // (optionally delete floating cell codes)

Return
// End of macro