using BC dates in Drupal date field

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137

answers:

+1 Q:

using BC dates in Drupal date field

I am trying to input BC dates in Drupal 6.15 using the Date module. If I enter "old" dates (less than 1000 AD) I get an error. How can I go about this? I cannot revert to text because I need to order things by their date. I need to be able to input really ancient dates like 300 BC. The date is the most important data point in this particular project.

Drupal 6.15
MySQL database 4.1.25
PHP 5.2.6
Web server Apache/2.0.54
CCK 6.x-2.6
Date Module 6.x-2.4: Text Field with Date pop-up calendar
Input format 2009/12/22 with years back/forward -2600:+2

Thanks

+1 A:

After a bit of digging in the MySQL docs. I don't believe that it can support dates earlier than 1000AD (see here).

Postgres SQL has better support for dates going from 4713 BC, is switching to that an option for you?

Another option would be to do something clunky like using a number field and customizing the output to get it to look like a date. That way you can still order the field and have a good range. Have a look here to see how to create your own CCK field, it is quite involved.

Jeremy French 2009-12-22 11:24:42

thanks... what I ended up doing was separating year, month and day in three different int fields... this way I keep "the best of both worlds"

mga 2009-12-22 16:04:40